Tag Archives: giving

Two Bits

So many of us have grown up listening to sermons, petitions and pleas to help good causes. We have heard how it is biblical to tithe and to still give offerings on top of it all. The people telling us this give us examples of how The Lord has blessed them as they have given…and they think that might loosen the purse strings a little more. Does it really? It doesn’t affect me whatsoever. I get stubborn. Maybe it’s because we hear sob stories and watch fund raising telethons by the hour. We see celebrities pitching their time and pretty face…and we think that that should at least get other people to give…just not us. We don’t have anything. Right? Continue reading Two Bits

Passing the Buck

For most of my life I would sit in the pew and listen to pleas for some cause or another. The television shows that I enjoyed watching had long commercial breaks showing hungry children and opportunities for helping someone in need. I would tune it out, change the channel…it made me uncomfortable. It’s not like I could help anyone, I didn’t have any money. And aren’t these commercials and speeches just a money grab for a large organization? It was easy to forget it all and think that someone else will take care of it. I didn’t need to make it my problem.

Now I am on the other side of the equation, seeing first hand the endless opportunities to help. Now I can’t change the channel. And there are days when I wish I could. It still makes me uncomfortable, and I still don’t have the money. Or do I? Don’t I have just enough to help a little? Isn’t that all I need to do? Didn’t the widow in the Bible just give her 10 cents? Jesus isn’t asking us to come up with millions of dollars for a big cause! He just wants an open heart and the willingness to be used. Continue reading Passing the Buck

Famine

I’ve been there, and I’ve done that! Shopped for another thing, thinking that I would somehow be able to fill in that hole inside of me. Looking for sales, finding deals, and looking into my overflowing closet and not finding a single thing to wear. Wanting what I saw in the store windows…spending the money…coming home and not really feeling any better.

Watching the news, and seeing people trample each other for “bargains”, has really affected me this year. There is a high likelihood that whatever they are lining up for, or hurting each other for, they already have at home. But this years TV is such a good deal…so what if we have 4 already? Credit cards filling up again? Is the storage unit that we are paying $100 a month for filling up as well? Do we need another one? What do we do with our closets that are full? We can’t fit in any more stuff! And really, giving our clothes to the Salvation Army is good…but is it just because we want more clothes for ourselves? Does it make us feel generous? Does it fill that hole? What if we give to the Salvation Army…and then give the money we would spend on newer clothes to them as well? What a novel idea?? Continue reading Famine

Chicken as Cash…

In Africa quite often the currency is livestock. Usually a chicken. We have been given a few as gifts and as payments for something. It is given out of the goodness and generosity of the heart…quite often to the financial pinch of a poor family. This last week we have received two. It is humbling to accept them as we realize that a family might go without meat for a few days, or even without income from selling the chicken. What can we do? Is there a way to repay them without them realizing what we are doing? After all, it is a gift…and they love to give. Continue reading Chicken as Cash…