Thankfully, Marlon & I have recently been blessed with consistent construction projects that help provide for the needs of our family. We are also praying regularly for wisdom and direction on how we manage the operations of the company. To date, we have over 30 active clients and approximately a dozen people working within our company to help it run like a well oiled machine. But as you know, sometimes we must change the oil in order things to run smoothly. Here's our most recent discovery of change:
On 3 recent occasions we have had significant challenges concerning our business banking account. On one occasion the banking system made an error by overcharging us several thousand dollars which took 5 days to resolve their error. On 2 separate occasions, we deposited a significant amount of money from our clients into our checking account which posted/cleared fine, then we recieved a "debit memo" and our deposit was reversed the very next day! WHY? There is no justifiable reason for these errors, yet I see them as a warning about our dependence on the banking institution.
These errors virtually handicapped us from ordering materials and paying subcontractors. They were completely out of our control and we were at the mercy of the bank (so to speak.) Now, I'm wondering how they have the power to reverse a completely valid deposit at their discretion? What other powers do they possess concerning our hard earned resource? And what if the economic crash predictions are right? We will have limited control of our resource and be at the mercy (once again) of the institution. Something isn't adding up for me.
This experience brought to mind another lesson we learned this summer while traveling out west. We were in western Arizona trying to fill up our gas tank, when we received an "invalid card" response from our ATM card. Apparently, our debit card was flagged by our bank and put on hold due to their "Fraud Prevention" policy. It occurred after we purchased our theme park tickets 3 states away from our home bank. The banking system tagged and froze our card until later investigation. Since that experience I really take to heart my dad's advice, 'Don't leave the house without cash.'
Anyway, I'm not trying to be controversial or try to influence the way in which you function. I do realize that this may even seem insignificant to some, (especially since I'm not revealing exact dollar amounts due to privacy purposes.) However, the impact of these errors on our family was MAJOR and I wanted to offer our experience to hopefully encourage you to examine your relationship with the current systems that we've grown to depend on.
Finally, can anyone think of any SCRIPTURES that jump out at you based on this post??