BY SVEN OSTRING
t was a stunning house, based on the
real estate profile on the internet. The
house had five bedrooms, a large game
room, a swimming pool, and a massive
kitchen—it was perfect for what we
needed!
Dont get the wrong idea, though.
We weren't just thinking of ourselves. My
wife, Marilyn, and | had only been mar-
ried for a couple of years, and we didn’t
have any children, so we didn’t need such
a big house. We were thinking of the
new church plant that we had launched
on a neighboring government university
campus, and all of the fun activities and
socials that we wanted to organize for
the students. | was even thinking of the
possibility of inviting university students
to stay with us in our home.
The problem was the price of the
house. The price was not outrageously
high, but it was a bit of a stretch. How-
ever, | reasoned, that if | poured all of
my wife’s salary from the Australian Tax
Office into paying off the loan, we could
make it work.
We were ready to head down to the
real estate agent and put in an offer, and
| had all the spreadsheets to back up
our decision. Then, in a moment, | had
a flash of financial enlightenment which
changed everything. My parents had said
to me:
“The key to having financial peace
as a couple is to make sure that you
can support a home loan based on
your salary alone. Even though your
wife has a good job, just use her wag-
es to make surplus loan repayments.
Don't rely on her salary to make the
basic home loan repayments which
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2023
the bank requires you to make, just in
case you decide to have children and
she wants to stay home to take care
of them for a while.”
| suddenly remembered what they had
told me, which meant that | had to take
her salary out of the equation all together
and just use my salary in the spreadsheets
for the loan repayments. Of course, that
meant the price of this stunning house
was about 60% above what we could
afford. We had to reluctantly put this
stunning house option aside and look
for a smaller house. In the end, though,
God provided us with a lovely little home
where we have many great memories of
university ministry and where our two
children joined our family.
The valuable lesson that | learned
from this story is how important it is
to listen to your parents and learn from
their experience and wisdom. | was saved
from making a big real estate mistake and
potentially from being financially tight as
a couple for many years. It was a lesson
that I look back on with much gratitude.
In the early 1600s, the English poet
John Donne wrote the famous phrase,
“No man is an island,” which is very true.
It is also true that no person is a financial
island. We cannot survive making individ-
ual decisions all by ourselves. We need to
seek out wisdom from our parents, our
siblings, our spouse, and even our chil-
dren when we are making financial deci-
sions. This is what the Bible teaches.
King Solomon asked God for wisdom,
and we can see this divine wisdom in his
proverbs. He said:
“Where there is no guidance, a
people falls, but in an abundance of
counselors there is safety” (Prov-
erbs 11:14, ESV).
This applies to seeking financial ad-
vice from family members too.
We know the fifth commandment well:
“Honor your father and your moth-
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