Home??? When, Why, Where, How?

Ohhhhh Kenny, and anyone else who stumbles upon this response, what a stressful and binding issue. One that I'm wrestling through right now. I'm fortunate to be sitting on the prettier side of this ugly ravine that we've (we being our nation, people, and forefathers) built for ourselves, but it seems that no matter what direction we turn slavery still reigns. If we cash out and rent we're throwing X amount of dollars into someone else'ss bank account monthly so they can forget for another month that they themselves are slaves to an even larger master. If we chose to buy a house that we can afford comfortably, we submit ourselves to living in a certain neighborhood, for instance I can no longer afford to buy a house that will fit my future family in my neighborhood, so I'm pushed by elevated prices and increased property taxes to the suburbs, becoming a slave to price location. And if we make the tempting decision to stretch ourselves thin to get in to the seeming "dream" house, we will probably find ourselves writing your friend David for freedom advice. It's so frustrating. I will not let a home enslave me. I will not let things cause my children to grow up with parents on the weekends only. I will not let material items that I buy own me. I will not be forced to ask my wife to work so we can have new cars, cable TV, high speed internet access, and a home that is to big to clean on the weekends, our only time off to actually enjoy life. I will not work for a living and I will not live to work, I will live. I will not become a long term dependent to any earthly income.

But how? How can we live like this apart form escaping, running away?Let's just say I live in an expensive, materially driven city. Let's say that this city is where I feel my family is called to live, it's home. Let's say I've got a hundred thousand dollars in equity in my current home, but it will soon be to small for a family to live in, and the school system in the neighborhood is pitiful. Houses in the neighborhood are out of my price range on the fixed income that I make, and I'm not willing to get into a situation where my wife is forced to sustain a full time job as the kids come. I desire freedom form debt and freedom from enslavement. What is my next move? I don't know right now. I just don't know. To be honest it forces me to question my calling, my lifestyle, my every decision. I don't know. But I have faith that my Fathers Spirit will guide me through this ugly ravine, and deliver us to the river of Psalm 36:8.

Teddy