Pearl and I are now safely home and resting from a wild 10 day trip to southern California / Northern Mexico. We co-lead a team of 20 down to El Centro, CA. where we partnered with a local church in building a pastor in Mexicali, Mexico a new home. The Pastor from Mexico emotionally shared with us on our last day that he had just seen a miracle before his very eyes as a 20-year-old prayer was just being answered. See, the Pastor married when he was 18 and shortly after started in vocational ministry; God was using him in his community but the community, due to cultural issues, had not stepped out to support him with their money. This left him finically in a tough spot. He was able to find a “5th wheel” RV where he, his wife, and their 4 kids have lived for the past 20 years. Through random “God events” this pastor became friends with our pastor friend in Southern Cal. and through more “God Events” our student ministry was able to adopt this project as one of our summer trips. A father of one of our kids organized a truck of lumber to be shipped out, a team of students and adults formed, and before long a team of 20 was heading across country on what would soon become a modern miracle. The trip and construction went great, wonderful progress on the home took place, but all that is not the point of this blog.
On the plane ride there and back I was able to read “the Organic God” by Margaret Feinberg. This is a wonderful book and would recommend it to many. The Chapter that has sat in my mind the longest is chapter 7 titled “outrageously generous.” Margaret, who I have had the honor of meeting is a feisty little woman who can’t be much taller then 5’ 1” and despite social awkwardness married a 6’8” Norwegian named Leif, centered the chapter after great humor and story around the idea of God loving a cheerful giver. But instead of heaping on the guilt of me being materialist and selfish focused on a lifestyle of giving; giving money, things, time, love, patience, life, etc.
So here I am, recouping from a wild trip, seeing the financial disparity of our brothers in Mexico and on the verge of signing a 30-year mortgage for a new house. I’m looking at my abundance of wealth trying to pack it all into a 24 foot truck, which by the way is larger then most of our Mexican Pastor’s neighbor’s homes, but I still would label myself poor in the context of my community, and trying to figure out how to be a cheerful giver. How do these worlds coexist? How can I look at the needs of the world around me, look at my “vast” wealth, look at my increasing wish list, and then find harmony around the idea of being a cheerful giver? How do I balance my wish list and “basic” needs of life and live knowing what needs are screaming for attention in the world?
May I as a liver of the faith learn to co-exist in multiple worlds. One leg in the world of my “rich” community being a living example of Jesus, yet one leg in the world of reality, the world of the needy, the world that I often try to forget.
May I as a liver of the faith inspire my rich brothers and sisters to remember our brothers and sisters who do not have as much as we.
May I as a liver of the faith give. Give when it’s comfortable, and give when it’s not. May I give smiles, hugs, kind words, time, energy, skills, things, money, and whatever else may be asked for that I can release.
May my life be a source of life, a giver of life.
