How I Managed God's Cash

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. (1 Chron. 29:11)

As part of our current series on money called “Cash Call” we were challenged by the principle that God owns everything and he entrusts money and possessions to us as temporary caretakers. Fully embracing this principle gives us great freedom in giving and a proper understanding of our position in relation to possessions. We gave everyone who attended that Sunday some money to use for God’s purposes, reminding them that this was not their money but only theirs to manage. Following are some of the ways that these resources were used:

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Through Kiva.org, we sent our collective $25 to a lady in Fogatuli, Samoa to buy more farming equipment and to expand her shop to maintain business growth. Her husband is a farmer.

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I donated to Heifer International. Here is the description. I like the idea of providing a gift of education as well as materials.

From Uganda to El Salvador, bees from Heifer International help struggling families earn income through the sale of honey, beeswax and pollen. Beehives require almost no space and, once established, are inexpensive to maintain. As bees search for nectar, they pollinate plants. Placed strategically, beehives can as much as double some fruit and vegetable yields. In this way, a beehive can be a boost to a whole village. Although most Heifer partners keep bees as a supplement to family income, beekeeping can be a family's livelihood. Your gift can help Heifer provide a family with a package of bees, the box and hive, plus training in beekeeping.
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We are contributing the money given to our friends Mandy & Jonathan Casurella that are raising support to be medical missionaries in Madagascar with World Venture. They are scheduled to depart for Madagascar fall 2009.

From their website, www.besidethebaobab.com
"As a medical doctor and a professional counselor, we plan to use our combined skills to promote physical, mental, and spiritual health and development in Madagascar. We aim to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ through our work and relationships. Essential to our beliefs in service is partnership. Partnership with the Malagasy people in service to remote communities and partnership with friends, family, church's and various organizations to join us in our efforts in promoting health and healing in Madagascar. Our long term goal is to partner with the Malagasy people to develop sustainable healthcare in these remote communities.

Creating Space to Dance Together

When we feel lonely we keep looking for a person or persons who can take our loneliness away. Our lonely hearts cry out, "Please hold me, touch me, speak to me, pay attention to me." But soon we discover that the person we expect to take our loneliness away cannot give us what we ask for. Often that person feels oppressed by our demands and runs away, leaving us in despair. As long as we approach another person from our loneliness, no mature human relationship can develop. Clinging to one another in loneliness is suffocating and eventually becomes destructive. For love to be possible we need the courage to create space between us and to trust that this space allows us to dance together.

taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey.

Destitute Foreigner Helping Orphans

He looked like just another homeless guy who was bold enough to walk into Starbucks and appeal for a handout. I was busily working on my computer, so I stayed focused on the project. Then I saw him hold up a piece of paper with a note. My immediate thought was that he couldn’t speak due to a disability. Not so. “Ukrainian Missionary – Please help me with money for orphans in my country.”

The Solo reading on day 17 continues a theme of God’s heart for the vulnerable. “Make sure foreigners and orphans get their just rights.” “Don’t abuse a laborer who is destitute and needy.” “Leave grain in your field to feed the foreigner, orphan and widow.” It seems that a consistent directive throughout the old and new testament is our responsibility to care for the most vulnerable in our society. So this destitute foreigner raising money for orphans was quite a find. This was a 3fer – a triple crown – a triad – a triumvirate. My immediate thought should have been – “I’ve hit on all three here God. Even my annoyed fellow Starbucks patrons are dropping one dollar in his bucket. As your follower, and knowing that your heart is inclined in triplicate towards this guy, what should I do? Is that worth three dollars?”

Anyway, I did help him more than the other patrons – which was no great sacrifice and will probably bear no mention when I meet Jesus in eternity. In hindsight, I probably should have spent the money I was giving him to buy him a grande coffee and asked him to sit for a while. Maybe I should have asked him if he needed a place to stay. Maybe I should have found out about his work in the Ukraine. Maybe I should have prayed with him. Maybe I should have invited him to worship with us on Sunday night. I think those things would have reflected God’s heart for the destitute foreigner helping orphans. I’m afraid I missed the triple crown.

A Still small voice

The Still, Small Voice of Love

Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, "Prove that you are a good person." Another voice says, "You'd better be ashamed of yourself." There also is a voice that says, "Nobody really cares about you," and one that says, "Be sure to become successful, popular, and powerful." But underneath all these often very noisy voices is a still, small voice that says, "You are my Beloved, my favor rests on you." That's the voice we need most of all to hear. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen.

That's what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us "my Beloved."

From Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey.

A Chasm and a Choice

When Adam and Eve were told to not eat of the one tree, God put it there anyway. He offered a choice.

They chose.

Now a chasm lies between humanity and himself.

A gap stretches over infinite time and pain, and God has raced to my side of the chasm and offers a hand.

Once again, he's offering a choice.

I am american, in a garden of eden, and he's offering a choice. I stand, looking up at the forbidden tree, this time however, Jesus is hanging on it.

I pray I choose you.

The beginning of my end

What is it when life becomes revealed delusion?
What is it when that which is, is found to be not as it should be?
What is it when dreams, hopes, fantasies and plans become an ethereal vapor, dissipated in the winds of revelation?
What is my life?
Who am I?
What is real?
No really; what is real?
Who can be trusted? What can be trusted?
Who will be there for me? Seriously.
What is this dark shroud that blankets my light, separating me from Awareness, numbing my world like a vat of Novocaine?
I only know that God is.
This is the air I breathe. It is all I have.

What's in the Box?

This holiday season, I've hesitated to blog early or heavily. I think I've been trying to wrap me head around a lot that is going on. I've been thinking about gifts and giving and this metaphor of a gift, and this gift we give each year at Christmas, and this gift in a way is us, or the experiences and memories we create at Christmas.

I've heard a lot of conversations on how we wrap this gift.

We wrap this gift in a variety of things. Some wrap there gifts in fair-trade, some wrap there gifts in Advent Conspiracy and take back Christmas from over consumption. Many wrap their gift in the patriotic flag of spending to stimulate the economy.

What we wrap these gifts in is a wide gamut of shine-y, new, impressive, profound, deep,relational and authentic. We've wrapped our holidays with a variety of trappings, and yet in moments we may still feel as if somehow we're still missing the meaning of Christmas.

The question that I've been asking myself lately is what is in the box? Do we fill the box with desire to give more and spend less? Insecurities to overspend and incur debt to impress or give to disillusionment of superficial "love".

What is it do we put in our box?

Maybe that's the problem.

Something is in our box. It is occupying that space, and in turn is not allowing space for others.

Maybe to have a more meaningful holiday season this year, the best thing to place in our box is nothing.

Should our gifts be empty to be filled by Christ's love. Should they be empty to allow room for others who may be different?

I guess if your wanting a fulfilling Christmas, wrap it in the best way you see fit, and make sure there's enough room in your box to be filled.