Barak Strickland

January 3, 2009

It was June 1987 and I was living in Wichit, Kansas. I was fortunate to meet a man by the name of Peter Degraff. From Peter I learned practical biblical financial principles. At the time I was 24 years old, single, and paying on a new $8,000 auto loan and starting to accumulate credit card debt.

In September 1987 I set a goal to be debt free by January 1988. Thanks to the teaching of Peter and the grace of God, I achieved that goal by focusing on debt repayment as a priority. I even sold all my gold coins to get out of debt!

In August 1988 I married my wife, and we moved to the Dayton, Ohio area. We remained debt-free except for a home mortgage acquired in 1990. By July 1999 we had completely paid off our home mortgage by paying additional principle with each payment. The feeling of being totally out of debt before the turn of the millennium is one that will stay with me for life.