The Richest Person In North Dakota

My faith means that I will never be alone and it gives me a chance on everlasting life. No matter what happens, God will still be interested in me and not turn his back on me. No matter how hard I try, I still sin a lot more than I should, but my faith helps me to understand that Jesus died on the cross to forgive me for my sins. My faith helps me drive to be a better person and gives me guidelines on how to treat others.

Gary Tharaldson. Net worth 930 million (that's $930,000,000) dollars. The richest person in North Dakota, apparently this was subject matter at my local credit union and from one of my local radio station's announcers. Yet this money isn't in oil, what you hear a big deal about in the Dakotas and Montana lately. No, Gary's wealth lies in hotels, in Tharaldson Hospitality that builds and operates hotels across the United States. Something interesting to know, and while just one million would more than accomplish the goals I have -- at least, it wouldn't make money such a big deal for me and my household -- it's WAY irrelevant. More relevant to me is hearing that my son Jeffrey was on a field trip yesterday and raised his hand to answer a question and got it right because he paid attention, more relevant to me is giving our paper route the heave-ho in nine days ... perhaps not so much why I said before, but for the sake of getting our sleep cycles back on track, more relevant just is to me. 

My faith means to me that there will always be someone beside me through tough times and he will always love me even if I make a mistake. What God does for me is such a huge gift to me, that I can't repay him except for doing good things. Doing these good things doesn't get me into heaven. it is my way of trying to give back what God has given to me. Even though I can't give back all that God has given to me, I will try to do the right thing all the time.

As I finish typing these excerpts from our eleven confirmands' faith statements (they will get their hard copies back upon graduating high school in three years, but I'd be surprised if these weren't sitting on the teens' computer hard drives now), I find that I'm recalling not so much of what I'd like to forget. Even when Jeffrey leapt on the couch and spilled a cup of coffee I had there ... I won't say I am proud of my reaction as much as I am that it didn't escalate before I brought them to school. They've got spelling tests today, Sarah has a book report to finish, and I need to generate more riddles for them before they go to bed tonight. Really, they're both smarter than they believe they are -- they may not always act it or act on it, but Mommy and I are equally guilty of that. It's when we act on what we remember that we become the richest people where we are, for then we're not letting our circumstances dictate to us.

Whenever I'm in a low spot in my life I pray to God and ask what will my faith be? Am I doing everything right? I also ask him to help me with what's happening around me. Faith is not knowing what will happen. God has a plan for everyone. So I believe whatever his plan is for me, I have faith in him that it's a good plan. I believe that all the bad that has happened in my life and everyone else's life is to learn from it and have faith that it'll get better.

It WILL get better, nay best!

David