Living Like No One Else
Tammy Gordon is special- a woman on a mission and a real gift to our world. She serves as a first grade teacher at Gaston Christian School and a regular favorite around this time of year. You see, as school approaches, parents (mothers in particular) and children begin wondering “Who are you going to get?” in reference to the teacher selected to teach those children during that school year. Ever popular, she is structured, disciplined, friendly, and pretty too (Just the kind of teacher that little boys fall in love with when they are in the first grade.)
Maybe the most telling thing about Tammy is from the glowing praise of those who work with her. Janice Robinson, a friend and co-worker at Gaston Christian, says, “She has always been among the most popular teachers. And she does such special things with her students. At the end of each school year, she hosts a sleepover in her own home for all the first graders who have been in her class that year. It has become such a tradition that even her former students who are now in high school come back to help her with her end of the year sleepover.”
Tammy takes a project and dives in. Once she catches a vision for the difference it can make in the world, she is “all in.” About 8 years ago, she took a mission trip to Charleston, SC with the students in our church. MissionFuge is an experience designed to not only entertain students for a week of summer camp, but put them to work serving the poor and needy in a given community. I was there when Tammy got off the bus from her missions experience. She looked at me with thoughtful determination and said, “I found my calling this week. I want to do missions here in at home like we did it there in Charleston.”
Ever since then, she has done missions with passion- organizing teams for service in the community, helping determine aid to those seeking help, and working tirelessly to help the poor and needy in countless other ways. She truly leads with purpose and passion.
Recently, she has also gotten a handle on her money and finances to help her “live like no one else so that she could one day live like no one else.” Tammy has become a fan of Dave Ramsey, the popular host of The Dave Ramsey Show, and adherent of his popular series, Financial Peace University. Famous for making personal finance simple and impactful, FPU has changed Tammy’s life. She and her husband, Ron, live like no one else because they live like no one else. Ever resourceful, Ron recycles cooking oil from grocery stores to become fuel for one of their cars. They have put their son Keith through school with the discipline of living, saving, and investing like no one else so they could reap the benefits like no one else. She is working tirelessly to help her church implement a program called MOMENTUM this fall, which encourages people to establish great personal finance habits. (For more information about how to get a handle on personal finances, go to forestpointe.org and click on the MOMENTUM button).
Tammy says, “Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University changed our lives. We quit using credit cards early in our marriage (the last card I had was from Ivey’s). But we couldn’t understand where our money was going. After doing a budget and discovering that my debit card was getting us into trouble because of impulse purchases, we began paying with cash. By using the envelope system of putting cash into envelopes for specific purposes and using that cash for the purpose specified in that envelope, we were back in control. We will never buy another new car, but pay cash for the used cars that we do buy. Plus, we paid cash for our son Keith to go to UNC-CH and are now able to pay for law school for him as well. And we are in a position where we can pay off our house soon.”
She is a wife, mother, teacher, and missionary. And best of all for me, she and Ron are my friends. And the show that it is POSSIBLE to, in the words of Dave Ramsey, “LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE so that one day you can LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE.”
Signup for a a group and the beginning of the path to personal freedom at forestpointe.org. Click on the MOMENTUM site on the front page. YOU can live like no one else too!