I have to give you a little back story on the transition that our church is going through for you to understand this blog, so bear with me as I catch those that don't attend Heritage Community Church, in Severn Maryland up.
Our church is in a transition where we are trying to become the social center of kindness to the community. This is where the church is the first place people come to to get assistance, instead of running to the government for help. So he has been teaching us as a congregation and trying to get the church to be unencumbered by debt.
Now that you are caught up I can start where God just amazed me the other day......
I was driving in my car on Monday, June 2 and God just tugged on my spirit. He began to talk to me and show me how blessed I was because I have the opportunity to work "secondary" jobs to earn extra money for my family. With these "Secondary" jobs I earn a pretty good amount of money for not working that hard or that long. After revealing this blessing God asked me a question, He said "Cory what are you doing with the blessing that I am giving you?" I said, "I am paying bills, fixing up the great home you gave me and my wife." He brought to my attention this new thought process...he is teaching me about being the social center of kindness. So I started to think about how I can pass on my blessing to someone else. I came up with some general ideas and I put them away in my mind until I could get a chance to talk with April about this.
So I had a conversation with April when she got home from work. My wife is the financial person in our family, so of course her immediate reaction to me wanting to give money away was we can't afford it. (Before you think anything negative about April, I do have to tell you that I wasn't very good at communicating to my wife that this whole thing was spurred by God and not just another brilliant idea of mine on a way to spend more money.)
Once I was able to communicate properly about how God laid this on my heart as the head of the house hold, it was then that my wife and I continued to dialogue about this subject. We decided that we would pray about it a little more to see if God had an exact amount that we needed to give and where he wanted us to give. So we dropped the subject and went about the rest of the day.
I continued to seek God about how much he wanted us to give away and where he wanted us to give. The next day I was on Myspace checking my messages and looking at some friends sites. One of my friends that I grew up with in California had posted a bulletinbulletin titled, "Challenge from a 7 year old." The bulletin was about her 7 year old daughter Gabby. Here is the bulletin:
"Gabby would like to challenge all of you to DREAM BIG/GIVE BIG! This year, her father challenged her to get good grades with straight 4's (equivalent of straight A's) with a reward of $100. She did it! She achieved straight 4's plus received a 100% correct on her advance placement testing. (G.A.T.E.)This weekend she received her reward. After letting her think about it for a few days, I asked her what she would like to spend her money on. I threw ideas out at her like a new skateboard, new shoes, new video game.........and here is what she said."Mom, I would like to use this money and buy some toys for homeless children." And off she went to play outside.Needless to say, I was floored.After a few moments of disbelief and wiping off the tears, I decided to find a place where we could donate and volunteer.We have decided to purchase toys for the Orangewood Children's Home. I would like to extend to you the opportunity to get involved either by donations or your time. It's time for us all to follow the heart of a 7-year old and DREAM BIG/GIVE BIG.Let me know if you would like to be involved. It's important for us to show our kids that they CAN make a difference.Send me a message and we can go from there.Have a fulfilling day!"
After reading this blog I immediately knew that this is what God wanted me to get involved in, so I sent the link to my wife and told her what my idea was. She told me that if this is what you believe God wants than lets do it.
I got on the phone and called my friend to tell her about my idea which was that we would match the $100 dollars that Gabbie's parents were giving her and that she was taking to buy toys for homeless children. This would give her $200 dollars to spend on the toys and have the chance to make twice the difference. After I told Gabbie's mother about my idea, she was so excited and floored that We wanted to do this and she asked if she could have Gabbie call me, so that I could tell her about my idea. I said of course that would be great.
So after Gabbie got out of school she called me and I told her that she had such a great idea and I wanted to partner with her and send her some money to buy more toys. She was very excited and I asked her to take pictures and write me a letter on how it went.
When I get that report I will be sure to blog about it and update you all.
Please take the challenge from Gabbie and figure out a way that you can help someone else a little less fortunate than you. If God can get it through you, he will give it to you.
4 comments:
Wow! I think this is awesome. I have been thinking about doing something like this but only a little different. I know God laid it on my heart, I am just waiting for Him to tell me when to get the ball rolling. The waiting, I think, is the hardest part.
Awesome blog, and what a great ending - if God can get it through you, he will give it to you. That's a really cool thought, too.
Keep us posted!!
#1 - That gave me goosebumps.
#2 - That reminds me of "Oprah's Big Give." I loved that show.
I am glad that you guys are going through with it. It's always easy to talk about it, but when you sit down and look at the bills it seems we talk ourselves out of it. Once you get her pictures and emails I am sure we would all love to see what she did with the money.
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