Day: 28

In January of 1985, I was a brand new, on-fire Christian, fresh out of college. I was in church one day when the pastor took up a special collection. I heard the Lord tell me very clearly to give all the money I had left in my bank account: $80. I had no job and no prospects, and that $80 was my security and castle wall.

Being a new Christian, I realized that (surely) God didn’t understand my financial situation and (clearly) needed me to help Him see that what He was asking was unreasonable. So we had the following conversation:

Me: “Lord, I can’t give away that money, that’s all the money I have and I don’t have a job yet.”

God: “Give it away.”

Me: “Lord, that’s crazy, I can’t give away my last few dollars. I don’t have anything to live on.”

God: “Give it away.”

Now, He could have explained so much to me. He could have reassured me that He owned the cattle on a thousand hills and that He could provide, but He didn’t. He simply told me again to give it all away and so I did.

Eleven Families in Limbo

Fast-forward a couple of years, to Mexico. While in Mexico, traveling for ICC, I met a group of 11 Christian families on a trip to Chiapas (Mexico’s southern-most state). They had been expelled from their land and homes because they were Christian converts. The government’s solution to their plight, rather than demanding justice and arresting those that took their farms and homes, was to put this group of families (all farmers) into a homeless shelter in a strange city, without any jobs or skills. When I met them, they had existed in this limbo for the last six years!

Within the homeless shelter, each family lived in a room that was approximately 12×12 feet. Within that small space, a bathroom takes up a 4×9-foot section.

Like all kids, their children run around and make noise. But the parents are terrified that neighbors will complain about the noise, causing them to be thrown out on the streets. As a result, they are constantly holding them in their small rooms throughout the day.

Most of the kids have been denied an education because the schools tell the parents that their kids are too far behind and will distract others. The few who do go to school fare little better. Teachers tell the parents that in order to receive their grades and advance to the next level, they have to pay the equivalent of $50 (a sum way beyond their reach).

As I sat with each family, hearing the details of their case, I was burdened by their plight. I thought of my own kids as I watched theirs run around in rags. After the meeting, I went to a store and purchased 800 pounds of beans and rice out of my own pocket. I don’t mention that lightly, and I don’t tell people that to gain applause. Rather, I want to emphasize that, even though I do this kind of work all the time, I was moved by love and pity to care for them.

Becoming aware of the extreme needs of the people around the world, in contrast to the extreme excess of the American lifestyle, has been one of the recurring gifts of the persecuted to me.

My “Last” $80

So let me get back to the story I began with.

Right after the church service where God told me to give away my last bit of money, somebody walked up to me and told me their office was moving and they needed to hire some cheap muscle for a couple of days.

That couple of days of work turned into several months of work that lasted until I started my “real” job. I obeyed God, and He had turned $80 into almost $3,000. That was quite a lesson for a new believer. That day, I learned about God’s generosity and his security; I learned how to obey Him even when it’s inconvenient or costly to me.

Satan focuses our eyes on the material world. He wants us to look on the future with anxiety and fear; to get us to believe that we are alone, that God has forgotten us, and there’s no help coming. Satan whispers to us, filled us with the worries of this life. He tells us to look to our last few dollars as the bulwark against a very scary world. All the while, God sits beside us quietly saying:

“Trust ME!

Your money offers you no answers.

I AM the provider.
I AM the sustainer.
I AM life.
Your money is a snare; turn your gaze away
from the world and find LIFE in me.”

The Better Blessing

Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive. If you’ve lived a few years, you know the truth of that statement. No material thing, no sum of money, really touches your soul. But when you give, especially in response to God’s prompting, and see others blessed, you are investing in eternity.

Every once in a while, I see a picture of myself with those brothers and sisters when I dropped off the beans and rice. The smiles of my brothers and sisters and their kids still speak to me.

Their parting words to me (through the interpreter) were about the frustration they felt. That is, because of the language barrier, they couldn’t properly express to me how profoundly touched they were.

The words they expressed have faded, as has any dent in my finances from giving to them.

But those smiles of gratitude remain.