The Ramsey Show - App - The 2020 Annual Christmas Giving Show (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 23, 2020

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, best bestselling author, is my co-host today. This is the eve of Christmas Eve, so it's our annual giving show, meaning that we are taking calls from you as you tell inspiring stories about generosity, whether you were generous or someone was generous to you.

And hey, we want to talk to you. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Now, moments ago, John, right before I went on the air, our radio team sent me a fabulous email just a minute ago. I'm so proud of them. Speaking of giving, our ratings on The Dave Ramsey Show have gone up dramatically in 2020. Obviously, people need the information on getting control of their money in a pandemic year. And so we kind of cheated in that regard. But we also was in an election year.

There was a lot of reasons for people to listen to political talk radio. And instead, they've been listening to us. And also, our number of affiliates have gone up. We've just added a whole bunch of them coming on the first week of January. We will be at 638 radio stations. Rush Limbaugh, our good friend, is at 651, the last count we had on him. Sean Hannity is at 575, but has more listeners than I have because he's got a lot of premium positions. And so he's legitimately the number two talk radio guy in America.

And without a doubt, we're number three. There's no one else in the 500s or the 400s. Wow. It drops down to 375 to get to number four. And that's because of you folks out there. And you give us of your time when you turn the show on. Your generosity towards us is amazing. Thank you.

And those ratings and that popularity has allowed us to not only become, well, one of the top three talk radio shows in America, but also we're the number five podcast on all of itunes in the world last year with the exact same thing and so there's about 10 million of you listening on radio and about 10 million million of you listening on podcast roughly and so thank you guys we appreciate it it has been a wild and wicked ride this year right and uh i think it's important to note that um with the spike of listeners in 2020 you had one new key addition dave who might that have been that could have just helped send these ratings through the roof you know i got rachel cruz on here pretty regularly and then uh and she started teaching us about humility she did she did a good job well played my mom's out here for crying out loud just trying let me just tell you it is the uh the

rock star of 2020 definitely has been the dr john deloney show ramsay and the uh redefining anxiety book is flying off the shelves. No kidding. It really, really is. All kidding aside. No, I'm having some fun. I know you are. Your faux humor is just amazing. So we're going to be generous here, and we're going to take generous calls from you guys,

calls about generosity. And one of the things we did do this year is we added a co-host to the show. And so every day one of the Ramsey personalities is on the air. And that has been a huge addition, all joking and prodding and butt-kissing aside and all that stuff. But John's a huge addition. And the guys that work on my show work on his show as well, on his podcast, and taking live calls in the mental health field. And some of those are rather tricky.

Not exactly your mother's 401K question that he gets. But he does have two PhDs, and I don't. So there's always that. He's Dr. Squared. There we go. There we go. There we go. All right, let's get out of this.

I think we're stuck here. All right. Kim is with us in Dayton, Ohio. Hey, Kim, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave and Dr. John. I am so excited to talk to you. You too. Tell us your giving story.

Well, I'll tell you. I am a nurse anesthetist. I went to anesthesia school as a single mom and I've been blessed and I just want to give a shout out to all the CRNAs out there. Amen. And I'll tell you, this story is true. It happened to me about, I would say eight or 10 years ago. Well, it was about three weeks before Christmas and I was in the dollar store. And I put my stuff up on the counter. And the lady asked me to put the clothes sign at the end of my stuff because she says, I have to get out of here and get to my other job. And I'm like, oh, wow, that's a bummer.

You have to work here and then you go to another job. She says, yeah, I'm a single mom. And, you know, I have to take care of my kids. And I said, hey, I get it. I'm a single mom and, you know, I have to take care of my kids. And I said, hey, I get it. I'm a single mom too. And so I put the sign there and we got to talking and I said, what's your other job? And she said, I'm a nurse's aide. And I'm like, oh, wow, that's cool.

I said, well, I'm a nurse. And actually I went back and did anesthesia. And I said, why don't you go to nursing school? And she said, oh, I couldn't do that. I don't have the money. I'm not smart enough. On and on, you know. So we talked for a couple minutes.

And I put my hand in my pocket. And all I had was 220. And I pulled it out. And I said, here, take this and get something for your kids for Christmas. She said, I can't take your money. I said, listen, God has blessed me, and I'm supposed to pass it on. So just please take it. And I also had a business card, and I gave it to her, and I said,

if you ever want to talk, you know, you can call me or email me, whatever. And I walked out of the store, and I didn't think about it again. And I bet you it was two to three years later, probably three. Wow. I'm in surgery. I'm in the locker room changing out of my scrubs, getting ready to go home. And my phone rings and I don't recognize the number. And I never answer those calls.

But for whatever reason, I answered the phone. And she called, Ken, this is Kelly. Do you remember me? I'm like, no. And she said, well, the dollar store? And I said, oh, yeah, yeah, I remember you. And she said, I just want you to know that I kept your card, and I looked at it every day, and I thought about you. And she said, I'm about to graduate from Nelson School. Wow.. Oh my gosh. The room started to get dark. I had to sit down. I'm like, this is a God moment right now. And then she said, I want to know if

you'll help me study. I'm like, well, yeah, sure. So she came over, you know, within a week or so and helped her study with her for her final. And I don't know, six, eight weeks later, I went to her graduation. Wow. I know. It was flipping awesome. 40 bucks in a kind word. 40 bucks and a you can do it. That's right.

I mean, it was five minutes. I didn't think about it again. But anyway, I did keep in touch with her. And I called her last week when Kelly, your Kelly called me to your Kelly emailed me to see if I wanted to be on the show. And I told her, I said, you aren't going to believe this, but I'm going to tell our story on the Dave Ramsey show. And she started yelling, it's October!

It was great. Wow. 40 bucks and a kind word. I love it. That's a good one. Well done, Kim. Well done. All you do is just stop and notice people instead of being jerks to them as you go through the line.

It's not hard. That's amazing, isn't it? Wow. What a, what a, hey, you know what? You can do it. But that'll do for somebody. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Over the years, I've seen so many families suffer by not having life insurance.

It's not that they didn't care. It's just that they didn't know, so they did nothing. That's a huge mistake. Listen, husbands and wives, moms and dads, think about it. If you died, how would your family pay the bills, the mortgage, food, and plan for a better future? This is what life insurance is all about, and term life is the only way to go. It's not expensive, and it's not complicated. Stop wasting money on cash value plans. You need 10 to 12 times your income in protection and I recommend 15 or 20 year level plans. I also

only recommend Zander Insurance and I have for over 20 years. These are the only people I personally use and they only offer the plans I recommend. Call them at 800-356-4282 or get instant quotes online at zander.com. Trust me, these simple steps will let your family know how much you care. If you feel like you should have made more progress paying off your debt by now, I get it. When it comes to paying off debt, sometimes it feels like a grind and no reward. Here's the thing. When you try to do it on your own, you're more likely to fall back into old habits and lose hope. And that's when you stop making progress. fall back into old habits and lose hope. And that's when you stop making progress.

That's why you need Ramsey Plus. Ramsey Plus is our step-by-step money plan that will give you the accountability and the practical tips you need to pay off your debt faster than you can on your own. When you have someone in your corner cheering you on, you make the tough choices that get you where you need to be ramsey plus helps you go from sort of to all in so you can finally keep more of your money to start your free trial of ramsey plus text the word trial to 33 789 that's text trial to 33 789 our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. Find out for yourself why Blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. You get free samples, free shipping, and with new promos all the time, you get the best deal.

The promo code, magic word, is Ramsey. Today's question comes from Dante in Tennessee. Dante writes, I am 27 and still live with my mom who's a widow. I want to move out, but my mom is really attached to me. How should I tell her I want to be more independent and want to move out? Dante, you should be gentle and you should be kind and loving and be direct. Tell her that you want to be more independent and that you are ready to get your own place. Tell her with a good spirit,

you pay for the meal, but be honest and direct and kind. And it may hurt her feelings. She may be sad, but she's going to understand that it's time for her baby boy to go. And those are always hard yeah this is going to be really good for her because you used the word attached and she's a widow right and um you're uh

you're filling a companionship role that you shouldn't be. Right. I think. I think. I don't like that word. And I'm with you. And she is also filling a purpose role for him that he needs to move on from as well. Yeah, he needs to get on with it for sure.

There's no question about that. They both lean on each other. For her sake, the completion of her grieving from the loss of her husband and moving on with her life and having her own dignity, her own independent, stand-alone, emotional state doesn't need to be leaning on her 27-year-old. That's probably stunting her from going through the grieving process the rest of the way. Her finding complete peace. Am I wrong? No, not at all.

I don't like that word attached. That ran all over me when I saw it. That's right. And this doesn't mean that we're not still having lunch every Sunday together. No, not at all. I don't like that word attached. That ran all over me when I saw it. That's right. And this doesn't mean that we're not still having lunch every Sunday together. No, we're not having breakfast and things like that. Yeah, but there's a 1 degree or 1.25 degrees too far of relational connection here that's not good for her. And so you're going to be doing her a favor by moving out. That's what I'm saying.

As hard as that will feel. Oh, it's going to be awful. It's going to be bloody. And because the roots are too far in, they've got to be ripped out. It's going to hurt. But it has to be done. Be gentle and be direct. Be kind, calm.

Do not raise your voice. Lower your octave even intentionally because when we get nervous, our octave goes up. And so, you know, when you're in conflict. And so just, Mom, it's going to be okay. Do your Chris Hogan imitation, right? Mother, mother, it's going to be fine. Mother. Mother.

All right. Dan is in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hey, Dan. How are you, man? Hey, great. Mother. Mother, it's going to be fine. Mother. Mother. All right. Dan is in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hey, Dan. How are you, man? Hey, great. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Tell us your giving story.

Yes. I've been the recipient of a very generous gift from dear friends. I'm a quadriplegic, so I've been paralyzed almost 14 years. Wow. And my accessible van is basically 14 years old as well. So I have some amazing friends from church, my friend Charlie, and we actually co-lead a small group together. And so he drives me to groups sometimes and is aware of the vans in great,

overall good condition but um each time i drive somewhere i literally say a prayer just thanking god for keeping that thing going because i've had those kind of cars yeah 2007 dots you don't expect it you know to go on forever um and so charlie and his wife are just amazing, generous people, uh, built up a business, uh, for just multiple decades, um, and recently sold it. And their mindset was, um, just how they're going to be generous and loving and show God's love and generosity to people. And so he told me that he wanted to buy a new van for me. And just two, actually a month ago, because it was actually on Thanksgiving.

Wow. We made that. Yeah, and wheelchair accessible. We're not talking about a cheap purchase here. This is serious. Yeah. Yeah, it's a very, very large purchase, something that I didn't quite know where the next one would be coming from. So it speaks to his heart that he's a generous individual but doesn't even take credit for him

and knows that God gave him the idea just to show love towards me. Well, he did. That's powerful. So how old are you? I am 34. Okay. So this happened when you were 20. What happened?

Yes, I was a junior in college, and I was on a missions trip in Mexico, and i did a back flip and uh injured my spinal cord oh my goodness wow oh my goodness yeah wow well i gotta tell you it's a beautiful story what a great guy and what a huge purchase too and that gives you freedom beyond money and beyond words doesn't it uh yeah incredibly so yeah what an affirmation of the type of friend you have been to this gentleman over the years as well i i wouldn't take any credit there that's just i've been uh god's been good and generous to my mom and i um so i'm for it, despite challenging life circumstances, just to have a life and people to love and be loved by. It's beautiful, man.

Wow. Very, very cool. Good for you. And a great story, Dan. Thank you for sharing that. So Johnny Erickson Tata has become a friend over the years, and a similar thing, dove into a swimming pool, and there wasn't any water in it. Or wasn't enough water in it or whatever. And broke her back. And she's been in a chair for, gosh, man, 40 years maybe?

I don't know. Maybe more. And they've got a huge ministry of just chairs. They collect wheelchairs. People donate wheelchairs. And they give them out all over the world. And tens of thousands of wheelchairs. People donate wheelchairs and they give them all over the world. And tens of thousands of wheelchairs over the years.

It's powerful. And I've spoken with her and she's a great speaker and great teacher. And she actually did a devotional here one time years ago. But similar story to that.

And her husband Ken is an incredible guy guy but they have a wonderful ministry and it um i mean she has a unique ability to raise money for people in the chair because she's in one you know so and she's uh so such a powerful speaker and such a powerful force of nature uh and dan it sounds like the same thing. That's very cool. That's super cool, man. Yeah. That's a good observation, too, because there's something about giving. It is – I probably shouldn't say this, but it is just tougher to give to unattractive – people of unattractive character. Yeah, you give – If Dan was a whiner –

That's right. That's cold. I shouldn't say that, but that would make it more difficult for most people, you give. If Dan was a whiner. That's right. You know, that's cold. I shouldn't say that. But that would make it more difficult for most people, including me. If you rub shoulders next to a good friend for years and years and you see how much good they're putting into the world, how much positivity they are making of a messy, ugly situation. And you want to write a $50,000 check and buy him a van, you can do it. That's right.

Because it becomes an ROI in your community. Right? It's an investment in your neighborhood. It's an investment in the soul. It does speak highly of Dan. It really does. That's a good observation your community. Yeah. Right? It's an investment in your neighborhood. It's an investment in the soul. It does speak highly of Dan. It really does. That's a good observation. It really does.

And we probably don't like to say that kind of stuff out loud, but I just did because it's kind of what I do. No, there's something special about leaning into somebody, whether it's a waitress that we've heard today or somebody at the dollar store. You just see it. They see something in them. You see something in them. You look in their eyes.

People can't see in their own mirror reflection. Yeah. And maybe just the Spirit is revealing. Maybe the Holy Spirit's revealing it to you. That this guy is just, this is one you should invest in. This is one of my kids. Yeah. Yeah.

It's good. It's good. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Live like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else. Put yourself in a position to be outrageously generous. On the eve of Christmas Eve, this is our annual giving show. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Our 500th team member years ago, when we announced it, we exploded a confetti cannon on the stage beside him. He didn't know it was coming, scared him to death. And now we have 967 team members, by the way.

So he started with us five years ago. Steve Lind on the Ramsey Plus team, one of our directors of sales there. And he is on the debt-free stage here in the lobby to tell us a giving story. Hey, Steve. Hey, guys. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you. Yeah.

So like you said, I work on the Ramsey Plus team, and the team that I lead works with churches specifically that catch a vision and want to get their whole congregation into Ramsey Plus to start changing their life. Used to be Financial Peace University churchwide. Now it's much more comprehensive, and it's all under Ramsey Plus. Absolutely. So we got a call back in the spring from a young lady who wants to be anonymous, so that's why I'm here, and I wanted to tell her a story. So she got a call from her grandfather who lives across the country from her, and he

invited her to attend his church's online Easter service, right, because churches all went online back then, and she attended the service online. And every day she has a time of walking and talking with God in the morning. And as she was doing that after that service, she kept getting this idea that I want to put my grandfather's whole church through financial peace.

And what would that look like? And how could I do that? She's grown up living by our principles. She's 24. She's cash flowing an MBA. 24? She's amazing. And so she called us.

She went online, found our page, called us, and we started having conversations with her. And we even, you know, she has this crazy idea, and we even tried to do our best to make sure that the idea that she had and the decision that she was going to make was the right decision for her. So she had some money stocked away for giving, and it just happened to be the exact amount that she needed to buy this for her church, for her grandfather's church. So in August, she called the pastor of the church and worked it out with him and they have about 65% of their church is in Ramsey Plus today and they're budgeting for the first

time and they're living on our plan. And we trust that that church is going to be healthier because of it. Wow. Powerful. Yeah. That is so cool. Yeah. A 24-year-old.

A 24-year-old puts her grandpa's whole church through Ramsey Plus, which gives them access to Financial Peace University, every dollar, bank sync, and everything, right? Yeah. I'll turn this into an ad because people need to know what this means. I mean, they need to know that this means that whole congregation is going to learn how to handle money God's ways now. That's right. And when a whole congregation starts doing that in their own home, the church no longer has to worry about giving because it automatically occurs.

That's right. Wow. And it's going to give a whole community of people the same language yeah right they start becoming each other's accountability partner and their own community members and you know what's the irony of this is is that there's somebody there who has a 14 year old that's now going through this that 10 years from now will be that 24 year old that's exactly right i mean there's financial peace babies in that church that as they grow up, their lives are changed. Their family tree has changed.

Their direction has changed. Their mentality has changed. Because that's what happened to her, you said. She grew up this way, right? That's right. That's right. And so this is turning and looking back and going, I'm going to tip my hat. That's right.

That's exactly it. Wow. That is so powerful. Now, we have a lot of churches do church-wide Ramsey Plus. It's not that unusual. No. A lot of them do it. But I think this is the first time a 24-year-old bought it for a whole church.

I think it is as well. I think that's pretty impressive, yeah. It is special. I'm amazed. Wow. Well, Steve, thanks for stopping by, and thanks for all the stuff you guys do in Ramsey Plus. That whole team, they work their tails off, man. And they're working with churches and with individuals and through some really challenging things this year

because we had 12,000 Financial Peace University classes scheduled to start, and then we didn't. That's right. And then they had to all go online and go virtual. As a pastor friend of mine said one night, we were sitting around in March, and he goes, and just like that, we're all televangelists so uh but that's that you know we felt the same way here and uh this team has done a great job pivoting and and still serving and getting this out and this right here is an example of that that whole church going 65 and the first swath that's strong yeah that's. That's well done. Yeah. Steve, thanks for dropping by. Merry Christmas.

You bet. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Very cool stuff. Meredith is in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Meredith, Merry Christmas. Tell us your giving story. Merry Christmas, Dave, and to you, Dr. John.

So almost 25 years ago, I met my husband. I did not realize I was marrying him and dave ramsey um but i am very thankful package deal hey i married my wife and dave it was weird for me only thing weird was those doggone envelopes um you know we we didn't buy anything if it wasn't in the envelope so you you can imagine my surprise. Our very first Christmas together, he suggested we buy some bicycles for some children that were in the safe home. You know, very selfishly, I thought that money could be used for a gift for me. But my husband's common sense and his big heart kind of won me over.

So they had like a spaghetti dinner, you know at the school that that served the safe home and and we had purchased two bikes that was all we could you know scrape together to do and a little boy received one of them and he was just precious and there was this little girl charmaine um she received the other bike and we just fell in love with her just absolutely fell in love with her my husband was teaching her to ride that little door explorer bicycle and I sat with Crystal Charmaine's mom and you know just she told me about their life and and how hard you know their their life had been even prior to being in the safe home and so for a few years we kept up with Charmaineaine and crystal my husband would go eat lunch with charmaine at her school and um my husband had been saving in those blessed envelopes

for this very ugly lazy boy recliner and thank god we gave it to crystal for deposit on her first full apartment and um you know we gave her some furniture and, you know, but all of a sudden they were gone and we absolutely lost touch with them. And, you know, we continued through the years to buy those bicycles every year. Even when we had our two sons, we just continued to do that. And then fast forward to January of 2019, my precious husband, following very routine surgery, died of a blood clot. And so as we approached last Christmas, my boys and I really were just aimlessly wandering through the season. And one of my kids just suggested, you know, we really should honor dad and we need to buy bicycles. We do it every year.

So let's do it. So I agreed. You know, you guys don't need to buy me a gift. And they agreed. So we just got to be really generous and we bought a large number of bicycles. And so I got with the principal and they don't do the dinner anymore and any of that stuff. But so we went to the school one afternoon, and they had a couple of staff members there helping us unload all these bikes out of my son's truck. And one of the staff members just looked really familiar.

And almost about the same time, I realized it was Charmaine, and she realized it was me. And she was just kind of looking around, and I realized just because of her eyes that she was looking for my husband, too. And so I had to tell her, you know, that he passed away, and she was devastated. And I couldn't quite understand. I understand devastation. We live that. But I couldn't quite understand. I understand devastation. We live that. But I couldn't understand her level of devastation. And it was then that she told me

that he had given her the greatest gift that she had ever received, and that was of hope. Wow. Wow. Wow. Powerful. Thank you, Meredith. What a blessing blessing i can't breathe nope thank you meredith Our Scripture of the Day, Luke 2.11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you.

He is the Messiah, the Lord. Ruth Carter Stapleton said, Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most. Generosity takes a lot of forms. Today we've been taking calls from folks on the eve of Christmas Eve on our annual giving show. We're going to take a couple more. Dr. John Deloney is my co-host today. It takes a lot of forms.

Sometimes it's just a smile. And sometimes it's just an attaboy, an attagirl. Sometimes it's, my hardest one is not saying something. And sometimes that's really generous i've benefited from that gift or even not doing something right just uh not responding not responding and um because my tendency is to hit back i didn't grow up in a neighborhood where we were where passivity was taught it was quite the opposite so but it's sometimes it's a generous act an act of great

courage to not respond and some of you are in situations with family members this week where you need to not respond you're out there and you're listening and you're going i love christmas because the family's around and by the way the family's around and you know going, I love Christmas because the family's around. And by the way, the family's around. You know, we all have that, right? Because if you think there's not crazy in your family, it probably means it's you. There's family crazy in every family. It's part of the joy of the holidays. So sometimes generosity is just, you know, it's okay.

I don't have to have a big debate with you on politics this year. I don't have to have a big debate with you about masks this year. It's just exhaling and passing the mashed potatoes, right? I'm just going to go, hey, have another glass of something there. That's right. Yes. Wow. All poor.

Move on. Move on. And sometimes it's money. And, you know, be walking around. Put yourself in a position that you're walking around with some fun money in your pocket, fun for someone else, where you just run into somebody and you just have that moment. You go, oh, yeah, $100 really makes a difference here.

$1,000 really makes a difference here. And put yourself in that position. And that's what these stories have all been today. They've all been people who put themselves in a position to be generous because they got out of debt, they're on a plan, they live like no one else, and now they can live and give like no one else nicole is in salt lake city hi nicole merry christmas how can we help hello merry christmas tell us your giving story yes definitely we had our baby girl ryan in september of 2016 and everything was great. January of 2017, everything changed. And that's when our daughter had her first seizure that lasted well over an hour. Um, we spent the next

months just barely surviving, just trying to figure out what was happening to our beautiful baby girl. Um, and finally in November of 2017, we got our diagnosis, which is something called Gervais syndrome. Um, it's an extremely rare genetic type of epilepsy that's essentially kind of progressive. Um, a lot of these sweet kiddos are lost at a young age. And then after that, it's just life expectancy isn't really known because of how rare it is. Word started spreading about our daughter in December of 2017, and the outpouring of love and generosity that our family received just changed our lives forever.

People had donated to a GoFundMe generously. People gave us essential oils and diffusers and gift cards, and a group of high schoolers made a handmade baby crib. People gave us toys and gifts for our other kids for Christmas. And people offered airline miles and gave us food, 12 days of Christmas cash, flowers constantly at my door just letting us know we were being thought of. My brother-in-law even went so far as to give us a car so we could have reliable transportation. I had to quit my job as a nurse that month to just, because we knew this was going to be our life. And so for 24-7 care that she was going to need. So to receive so much during that time of year just changed us, changed us, who we are to our core, gave us a new perspective. But with that money, we were actually able to fly, get care from one

of the top Dravet doctors in the U.S., which helped us learn just invaluable information on this horrible syndrome. We were able to get a seizure response dog, which not only helped our daughter, but our whole family trying to adjust to our new life. We were able to buy adaptive medical equipment, pay bills, and just stay afloat during the worst transition time of our lives. We just have been so fortunate, and we don't know how long we're going to have our baby girl here with us. Hopefully with a cure forever, but what we do know is that God gave us and provided us a way. We've never asked why. It's just not important to us, but we've always asked for the strength to get through, and he has always, always given us that.

Wow. So that's our beautiful, wonderful story of the miracle of our lives. Amen. You've got two miracles, one little girl and then one community that holds your arms up in the desert and keeps holding them up and keeps holding them up. We've been so lucky. Wow. You're blessed so lucky. Wow.

You're blessed. It's blessed. And the interesting thing to me is that not a single person that has given you anything misses it. Their lives are not diminished by what they gave you. They're enhanced by what they gave you, and your life is enhanced. And that is the beauty of this particular character trait, which is a choice called generosity. Powerful, Nicole. Wow.

Thanks for sharing that. Just look at these pictures of your beautiful girl, and I've got a little girl. They were flashing them up on YouTube as we were sitting here, and it's just amazing. Wow. Powerful stuff. Tom is with us. Tom is in San Diego. Tom, tell us your giving story.

Hi, Dave. I've got a good one for you. Merry Christmas to you and John. My story is really unique. It's definitely a God thing. I have multiple sclerosis. I've been a high school teacher and coach for 22 years, and my wife found a contest to get us a mobility van.

I've gone from a cane to a walker, rode a Segway at school, and finally I'm in a power wheelchair. And as you've discussed in previous calls, these vans are expensive. They're $60,000 to $70,000, and my wife found this contest. And you had to come up with a one-minute YouTube clip, and they would interview you in the contest, and then it'd be voted on. Well, we had the audio visual group from our school make a video for me, post it up on YouTube, and we got in the top 10. We didn't end up winning the contest. The local newspaper came out and did an interview on me and then a follow-up interview on how we didn't win the contest. And I was like, that's kind of weird because you usually don't get interviewed for losing the Super Bowl.

You get interviewed for winning the Super Bowl. And I'm like, well, okay, I'll, yeah, sure, come on out. We'll do another interview. Well, they did it and they posted it. And about three days later, my athletic director called and said, hey, good news. And I'm thinking, hey, I got a new recruit. I got a new athlete. This is going to be great. He's like, no, someone called and it's really good news. I'm like, okay. So I call the number and talk to the gentleman. And he said, hey, I read your story in the newspaper the other day. He said, I went to go to USA Today, and it was out.

In LA Times, it was out. And so the only paper that was left was this one copy of the San Diego local paper. He opened it up, went to the local section, and there was my story. And he said, I'm sorry you didn't win the van, but I'd like to buy you a van. And I said, sir, you do understand that these are $60,000, $70,000 vehicles. He said, yeah, that's no problem. We'll take care of it. Well, he ends up buying me the van,

and he's also the gentleman who rebuilt our stadium at our high school for a tune of a couple million dollars. We find all sorts all over San Diego, places where he just gives like no one else. That's exactly how it works. Wow. What a great story. I love it. So cool.

Imagine having the money to open up a newspaper and say, I'm going to change this family's life forever. Just go on. Write him a check. I'll write him a check. I like it. Merry Christmas, America. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show and the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. Merry Christmas, America. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show and the books.

We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.