What If?

Thoughts on giving.

I sat thoughtfully after the service and considered my own giving.  I thought I was doing well since I was giving more than the 10% that was expected in my circles.  Yet today the preacher had shifted my thinking.  It wasn’t that 10% belonged to the Lord and the rest belonged to me, but it ALL belonged to Him.  I was only the caretaker, the investor of His funds.  Even if He was being generous with the “salary” I received for taking care of His investments, was I spending more on myself than He would expect?

That experience took place a long time ago.  Since that time, I have tried to be sure that the money I spent from my salary (in whatever job I had at the time) was necessary.  Just because I had the money was not a reason to spend it.  After all, God might have a better use for it.  I have grown in my giving to a larger percentage than I once thought possible.  But still, I still need to check my habits and make sure that I have not fallen into the worldly mindset that says this money is ours.

One Sunday night I was so pleased to see several children come to the special offering for us with dollar bills in their hands.  It pleased me in so many ways.  I am pleased that their parents are teaching them to give.  I am pleased that they considered us worthy to take their gifts and use them well.  I am pleased that God is teaching them to invest in eternal things.

So once again I began to think.  What if? 

• What if some of us took the view of LeTourneau who decided he would live on only what was necessary?  He kept extending his giving rather than his expenses.  The Lord blessed him and by the time he died, his giving had increased from 10% to 90%.
• What if every adult in the church decided to increase their monthly giving to missions by $5.00 and every child by $1.00?  In some churches, that could mean that several missionaries could be added and current missionaries receive a raise.
• What if we asked for money to be given to missions instead of exchanging Christmas presents?  Did you know that most missionaries see a reduction in income in December because of increased expenses?  Wouldn’t it be nice if they saw an increase instead?
• What if we taught our children to keep their wardrobes down to what they need by setting an example for them ourselves?
• What if we asked the question every time we bought something, “Do I need this more than the Lord needs me to send the money to one of His projects?”
• What if every time we said “no” to that specialty coffee or meal out, we took the money it would have cost us and gave it to the Lord?

In the past, I have heard some creative examples of coming up with more money.  One woman decided to reduce her visits to the beauty salon so she could give that money to missions.  A family trying to make ends meet planted an extra large garden and took an additional row of their garden to give to the Lord. 

I could add more examples and ask more what ifs.  But the real question is, Does my checkbook look like Jesus owns it and I’m just the treasurer?  Or does it look like it’s mine and Jesus gets what I decide?

Why do we need a house?

We plan to spend at least five months abroad next year.  In addition, we will be making multiple trips throughout the US to raise support and represent the mission.  That means it’s likely we will only spend about three to four months at “Home”.  So the question has been asked, “Why do you need a house?”  So here are a few of answers which you might find enlightening.

Milk frother

With the money we’ve spent at McDonalds, Tim Hortons, and other restaurants in order to use their “free” wi-fi, we could have already paid our entire mortgage. 

When we wanted to buy a $2.49 milk frother from Ikea to make specialty coffees from time to time, we couldn’t figure out where the right place was for it in the car.  And, we wouldn’t have been able to make coffee in our car anyway, so we decided to pass it up for now. 

We need to keep an entire address book just to keep track of our return addresses.

Our arms are just not long enough to reach up to the storage locker in Maine to get a book that we need for study.

Sitting on one of our chairs in the storage locker just does not feel like home. 

We’d love to be hospitable to missionaries, friends, and relatives, but how do you invite people over to your car for dinner or to stay the night?

Right now when people ask us where we live, we say “our car”.  If they ask where we are from, we still usually say, “Our car.”  It has been tremendously economical for us to live out of our car, but we’d like to be able to have a real answer to that question soon.

Letters From Abroad

I love reading the letters from our mission's international missionaries.  (By international, I mean that they are not from the US.)  I love the dedication of these men and women.  Here are a couple quotes from their recent letters. 

“We pray and are planning to start building a mission school in November, using bamboo, wood, and with a tin roof (cost $980). In the beginning, simple furniture such as table, bench, desks, chairs, and black board will be needed (cost $450). For four teachers’ salaries $400 is needed per month.”  An Indian missionary

Regarding their Bible institute:  "Like every year, we did have to deny many who applied, because of limitations in space and finances, but we do thank God for blessing us with 210 students this year who were willing to face the challenges and sacrifices of leaving families and ministries behind, all for the furtherance of the gospel. We would like to ask you to pray for a few of our students who had to go home for family emergencies. One student received the heartbreaking news that his little boy passed away while he was at SALEM." – One of our Haitian missionaries

That same missionary wrote about their elementary school:  “Lord willing, school will be back in session before the end of the year. Exactly when, we cannot say. We do not have the luxury of a stable government that announces the dates of the education calendar each year. It usually depends on the political climate, the economic situation of the country, and so on. Hopefully we will get the go ahead to welcome our students back on campus within the next few months.”

“Brethren, I kindly ask you to pray for a book I want to reprint. I have added six chapters to my book “I escaped...from Satan’s gallery.” The book’s idea is to show a gallery full of windows, each of them representing a religion in which this astute enemy tries to entertain and deceive man. It was amazing how this book blessed many homes. At the time that I printed this book, I had a car and sold it to pay for the expenses.”  An Argentine missionary.

"We had the opportunity to travel to {a 10/40 window country} for a week on a mission trip. I taught “Introduction to Old Testament” (part one) for five consecutive days to four of our online students. I also preached at two home churches.  (Christians there are not allowed to meet publicly.)" - A national missionaries in a sensitive location.

It stirs my heart to read of the work God is doing all over the world through the lives of our co-workers.  Some of them have suffered great persecution, yet they continue on.  If you would like to support one of these amazing missionary couples with your prayers, please let us know.  They are well worth your consideration.

In Praise of My Household Servants

Sometimes as I fall asleep at night, I hear the maids still at work, their low humming or rhythmic beating continuing long after I’ve gotten in bed.

What?  Maids, you say?  You mean, you have maids?

Why yes, don’t you?

I have a bunch of them, so many in fact, that I don’t always remember their names.  Let’s see if I can remember them all now.  Those of you who know me will know which ones I’ve overlooked.
There’s the maid that hauls the water and heats it up for our baths.  We normally call her Faucet.  She’s very reliable, and she doesn’t even grumble when we ask her for water in the middle of the night to flush the commode.

There are two maids, Washer and Dryer, that share the work of doing the laundry.  They are fast.  I throw the laundry at them, and in a very short time they have it back to me.  Because they are so fast, they don’t work every day.  They are also the ones that often like to work at night after I’ve gone to bed.  I don’t mind if Washer keeps working, but Dryer has a celebratory screech she makes when she’s finished, so sometimes I ask her to wait until morning to finish her job.

In our last house, we even had one whose sole job was to do the dishes.  Granted, she wasn’t a fulltime maid, and she couldn’t do them as fast as I could, but her being on our household staff meant that I didn’t have to do that job. 

Then there is the old matron who caries messages for us. She can take any message, to nearly anyone, at any time, and in an instant. She has several children who she has trained in this service so she goes by Ma Bell.
We have other servants. There is the groundskeeper who can cut the grass so evenly, it’s amazing.  Sure, I have to walk around with him.  He is rather young so that unlike some of the other servants, he can’t do it without one of us there.  Still, his abilities are quite remarkable.  Thanks, Mower, for all the work you do.  Put a sickle in my hand and the lawn just wouldn’t look as nice.

Then there’s one that is absolutely amazing.  We call her Electricity.  She keeps the furnace going in the winter, fans us in Summer and stokes the cookstove.  She lights the lamps for us at night.  She winds the clocks and the music box.  She even is able to make the picture box light up to let us watch moving pictures.  She is so efficient that she often helps the other maids with their work.

We also have a stable master.  He keeps the horses fed, groomed and the carriage running smoothly.  All we have to do is head out the door, and there’s the carriage ready and waiting for us.  He hands over the reins, and off we go.  His name is Hyundai.

Then there’s the gardener and his family.  He’s no ordinary gardener.  He not only keeps the garden for us, but when his family harvests the vegetables, they goes to the trouble of cleaning them and sometimes even cutting them up, so that when I go to cook, all I have to do is throw them in the pan.  They take the wheat to the miller and bring it back already ground into flour for us.  Sometimes they even take the flour to the baker so that I don’t even have to bake the bread.  He takes our animals to the butcher and brings back the meat all packaged up and ready for us. His abilities are truly astounding.  Through trade and bartering, he can produce from his larder almost any fruit or vegetable; any meat, fish or fowl;  any grain, flour, bread or cake I desire, regardless of the season! His name is Hannaford.

Sometimes I can’t believe how blessed I am to have all these servants.  Not only do they work hard, they almost never complain.  They cost very little to feed, and they lighten my load so much.  

So today I give thanks for all the household help I have.  If I didn’t have all that help, I certainly wouldn’t be able to spend most of my day doing the other jobs I do. 

Fifteen Years

Fifteen years ago I said, “I do.”  I said it with full faith that God had brought us together and that He would give me the grace to fulfill the vows I made that day.  I did not expect it to be easy.  In fact, I expected it to be hard.  We had both been single a long time.  Joining two independent lives and making them one would be a challenge.  And, although we had known each other for more than a year, our long-distance relationship meant that we had not spent a lot of time together.

The first couple years I found myself often praying, “Lord, help me to be the wife you want me to be.  Make me a servant.  Make me submissive.”  My independent spirit often rebelled.  I got upset over small things and cried silent tears over my failures.  I struggled to be the wife I knew I should be and cried out for God’s mercy and power to make me that woman.

At the same time, I was amazed at how blessed I felt by having this man by my side.  God had given me a huge gift.  He given me a friend and companion for the rest of my life, and He had answered my prayer for a ministry partner.

There were a few blessings that surprised me.  My emotional ups and downs leveled out.  He stabilized me.  When the dark clouds of winter’s SAD came over me, I simply talked to him about it and we figured out a way to ease its hold.  Perhaps the biggest blessing to our new marriage was that I found was that he had already learned to resolve conflict in a biblical manner, and he taught me to do the same.

So today I want to give thanks to God for this man I call “My wonderful husband.”  I wanted to write him a poem, but the words and thoughts have failed, so instead I’ll just make a list.
Charlie, I still love . . .

• looking at your sleepy face across the breakfast table. 
• cooking together.
• hearing you pray for me.
• learning from you when you preach and teach.
• dreaming and working with you on the things God still has for us to do.
• the way you try to please me with little things and big:  little things like making the bed or doing the dishes and big things like taking me out to a fancy restaurant to celebrate our anniversary.
• your faith in our amazing God.
• your steadying influence in my life.
• your steadfastness to stay on the path God has shown us even when the end of deputation seems like an unattainable goal.
• sitting in the library or the café together working separately on our computers.
• sharing our faith together at the evangelism booth at the fair.
• singing duets with you.
• walking down the street hand in hand.
• and so much more.  I think I could keep going until everyone got tired of reading, but that’s enough for now.

Suffice it to say, I’m so glad I married you.