As most fathers, I have been proud of my sons and love to talk about
it too. A friend at work reminded me of a story I had told him that I
had not included in my book. The gospel of Luke chapter 16 verses 1
through 13 records Jesus telling a story of a dishonest manager. He
was commended for making the most of his situation though. He
arranged to have secured his economic future by making friends of
those who owed his master money. His master, who fired him, commended
him for his shrewdness. “One who is faithful in a very little is also
faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also
dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the
unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” The
story concludes with “You cannot serve God and money.”
Jeremy, my oldest son, was doing well in school. He had a test coming
up we knew very little about. Jeremy wasn’t prepared. He didn’t
bother bringing his calculator. It was known mostly by its initials:
PSAT-NMSQT. Since he was just in 10th grade we didn’t know how much
it had to do with college. I didn’t prepare him either. Afterward,
we found out what those letters in the name of the test stood for:
Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test – National Merit Scholarship
Qualifying Test. At about the same time his younger brother, Toby,
was invited to be a part of a Duke University study which involved
taking the SAT in 7th grade. After reading the letter, I decided it
may actually be a good idea to take the SAT in 7th grade. We didn’t
accept the invitation to be a part of the Duke University study, but I
did pay the test fee and scheduled Toby to take the SAT. Jeremy
didn’t do well enough on the PSAT-NMSQT to get in the running for
national merit scholar. This one test was literally worth upwards of
$100,000 for college expenses. With escalating college fees, it’s
probably worth more now. Why not, I thought, have all three sons take
the SAT and ACT once per year? I wanted to prepare them for college
and “acing” a standardized test, especially the PSAT in 10th grade,
was a target worth aiming at. So, all three, even our youngest son,
T.J., starting in 6th grade, began taking the SAT and ACT once per
year. It cost me about $100 per year. Did it pay off? Jeremy
received a full-tuition scholarship, and both his brothers did well
enough on the PSAT-NMSQT to eventually become National Merit Finalists
and got all expenses paid for their 4-year undergraduate degrees. All
3 sons received B.S. degrees in mechanical engineering with very
little financial assistance from Mom and Dad.
The story can’t end here though. Money, or as Jesus calls it,
“unrighteous wealth”, is only one of the tools to accomplish the “true
riches” God has entrusted my family. As the servant given 5 talents
was able to give 10 back to his master [Matthew 25:20], my wife and I
pray for our sons daily.