Be like the Jeffersons.

While this may not be a particular post about tithing and generosity, I think it still fits.

The idea is simple - for too long a few of the banks in the US have been "too big to fail". While they caused their own issues, we ended up footing the bill to keep them afloat. And what are they doing now? Giving out more ridiculous bonuses, not paying back what they owe the US tax payer, and continuing to take part is the same shady deals that caused the major recession we are in now.

The solution? Let them fail.

If you have money in a bank that just doesn't "get it", move your money to a smaller back that does. You can find a smaller, but quality rated bank, at Move Your Money. I already have my cash in a smaller, regional bank. I think we all should.

So what's this have to do with tithing and generosity. Well - the big banks are only being generous amongst themselves. And let's face it - none of the big banks can fit through the eye of a needle. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Videos don't get better than this....

Tricked On Halloween

Make an Impact...change the world

Impact has arrived. And yeah - so have I, back here. Been far too long, and far too.....poorly.... in my finances. We are still struggling with our money and struggling with being good stewards with what we have been given. We are getting closer to being budgeted, but it seems that we are constantly trying to catch up to that point, only to get knocked back because of a car issue, home issue (it's the clothes washer right now) or any of a hundred things. These are no means an excuse; just simply what we are running into and battling with. If anything, it's an internal struggle; a mindset change that I am having a tough time handling, and quite frankly - accepting.

And for Impact, Kath and I had a hard time making that commitment. What we know is best vs. what we (I) have handled money in the past. It was the battle of the century - The Thrilla in Manila, so to speak. But the last message floated like a butterfly and stung us both like a bee, even though she was down in the service and I was serving in the booth. We were both touched with the some financial number, so we put in on the card and made our two year commitment to the community and the world. The following day, Kath was told they would like her to put in more hours at work (something she has desired since the school year began). The increase in time/pay calculates out to just a little more than our monetary commitment.

Our God is awesome!

ICU, can you see me?

March 22nd? Has it really been that long? Have I really struggled this much? Yeah - I have. I do want to get back here, cuz this summer has been horrible for too many reasons, and I won't go into detail. Just detail my financial side, and yeah - that's been horrible. So God's been getting "horrible" from me. Gotta change that.

Anyway, I wanted to get back in gear, and I think no better than to post a letter I wrote the other day to my small group members. It was a letter I wrote in regard to a rant I had the night before, which what based on financial stuff. See - it all comes around to the all mighty dollar. Quick setup - I had a creditor issue that I had to be late to small group to resolve. I was also on a time restraint to get this bill resolved, but the drive over was nothing but a pain with a bus and everyone cruising at 5 UNDER the speed limit. I made it, but I was overly stressed. Then the payment didn't go as well as I liked. Anywho - get to small group. We are working thru Mark and we are on Mark 11 where Jesus curses a fig tree. At the end of group, the leader is asking how we feel about this chapter, and I go "why does God keep treating me like a fig tree", and then proceed to engage is a not so nice 4 year old tantrum. Well, I wanted to clarify myself more to my group, so I wrote the following. I think I am not alone in what I feel.

*********
Ok - you want some transparency, well let me lay some out for you.

Remember a few weeks ago - the "message in the round" service with the testimonies? Well, the last one from Ms. Latta hit me pretty well. I really liked her analogy of the spinning plates. I found direct parallel in that, but in a slightly different way than she did. See, with my plates. I put them up there cuz God tells me to give my fears up to Him and He will take the burden from me. So here - let me get them up to You - all my fears, my mistakes, my screw ups, my shame, my guilt. Passing it up to ya, God. So I start spinning my plates, and I continue to add more and more plates to spin. As I look back, the first few are wobbling. It's not so much the wobble, but the fact they are even still there that has me worried/frustrated. So I head back and give them a spin to keep them up there.

"God must be busy", I think. "He'll get to them".

Back down the line and more plates - my finances, my relational issues, my judgement issues - I have a lot of plates. Too many. I continue working and spinning even farther down the line, and more plates are threatening to fall.

"Hello? You gonna take these burdens yet?"

I rush back along the line of sticks and keep them all going. I am overly stressed, and since I spend all my time on my past crap, I have no time to make right the present, or get better with the future, so I end up just adding to the stack of plates I need to spin and getting worn out physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually running up and down the row, keeping them all aloft.

Finally, I hit my exhaustion point. Forget these plates. He said trust Him, so I'm gonna trust. I see the plates barely hanging on, but I just can't or won't go back there to keep them up. God's just going to have to take it like He said He would. Don't let me down. Please don't.

CRASH! First one hits the floor. Followed quickly by the next few. I rush down to try and keep the ones that are balanced only by the rim still on the poles. I save a few, but the rest end up in little shards on the floor, all around my feet. Now I feel upset and lose faith that He will take away any of these plates. So while moving among the shattered pieces of my life, I do my best to keep the garbage of my life above everyone's heads, so they don't see it all. Sometimes people are around when it comes crashing down, and they get to see the complete mess I have made. Too often people are under my plates and get hit with them as they fall to the floor, causing pain and damage in their lives from my mistakes.

And there I am, left to pick up the pieces with no one to help me.

As I have said many times - if I just had a clue what this grand plan is He has, maybe I could survive all this. But I feel so left out in the dark here. The disciples saw first hand all the amazing things Jesus did, and they were dull dolts. I think if I saw a blind man healed, a crippled walk, 5 fish feeding thousands and a tree dying just from a sharp tongue, I would pretty much get it all and be on board, no hesitations. But I get stories, riddles and parables. The Bible is loaded with examples of not just God making great things happen out of total jerks (David ring a bell?), but also the patience of people waiting for God's glory to bless them (Abraham comes to mind). There's a bit of a difference though - Abraham KNEW that God had a plan, and even knew what it was ("I will make you a great nation."). God told him right out what path He would put Abraham on. Abraham just got very impatient and wanted things to get moving. Abraham had the Erector set with his name on the box and a really sweet picture on the front showing what his life would be when God finishing constructing it. Me??? My Erector set has a generic white front with no picture of the completed model and the stinking box isn't even open! Then I see others, who don't even shop at God-Mart (TarGod? Godco? JC Godly? Lord and Taylor?), get bigger and better Erector sets, with the exclusive limited pieces, and I have to trust that it'll get better. He has a plan.

When you buy something, you tend to receive a manual instructing you on how to build it. Am I asking too much for a bit of those instructions? I see slot C - where's tab F that's supposed to go there? Is it even tab F? Maybe it's tab E? What about this one gray squiggley piece - do I even use it? Yeah, God - the smallest seed grows a huge plant, the vine will cut those that do not produce fruit. Blah blah blah.... JUST TELL ME WHICH TAB GOES WHERE! Cuz frankly, until I get this life built, I have no damn idea how to produce any decent fruit.

Just a clue, God. One hint. You say if I ask, You'll give it. So I'm asking - one clue

Honor.

God, help me to remember that I put You first over everything. No matter my struggles in life, I seek You first, praise You first and honor You first, whether it by the actions of my hands, the words of my mouth of the first of my storehouse.

When I feel under appreciated at work, You are there. When there is tension in my marriage, You are there. When I stress through my spirituality, You are there. And when I feel very undeserving of Your grace, You give it.

It's coming...

Celebration Generosity, part 2, comes to CCC this weekend. You don't want to miss it. Really, you don't. Be a part of a weekend of change (as opposed to a Tuesday in November of change). In coming up with this post, I wanted to find a cool pic that talked of generosity - I found 3. And I can't decide which I like best. So check them out:



Also, while hunting for pics, I found a blog called The Generosity Path. Seemed ok, so I added it to the blog roll on the right side. I'll keep looking at it to see what it says. It's not straight spiritual, but I liked a couple of the posts I read.

New look.

Kinda got tied of the old template, so I moved to this one. It's ok, but don't be surprised if I change it again. I'm fickle like that.

Talk at you tomorrow - I promise.

The Jesus mission - applied

Did you catch the NBC news this past Friday? If you didn't, here is what you missed: a church that takes everything that is placed in the donation bag and gives it to a person in need. The church is Waterfront Community Church in Schaumburg, IL, and I am proud to personally know some of the people that launched that church out of the NewThing network.

(Now, when I went to view that, I had to sit through a commercial for some "personal" medication - I hope you don't get the same. Talk about your bad placements!)

Anyway - you can view the second behind the scenes video here.

Still wondering why?

I have couples small group on Thursdays, and if there was ever a reason this does not end with us, here it is:

"Thank you for this weekend. I was going to take my life, and now I'm not."

That was written on a card by a student after attending Blast the previous weekend, and shared with us in small group. God so moved in the life of that student that they decided whatever it was that drove them to think death was the solution, they now realized the real solution is the unconditional love of Jesus. The time given by adult volunteers, plus the contributions of the attenders made the change in that student's life possible. How many other students might be thinking that very thing? How many adults? How many need us to be the church so they don't get forgotten or left behind?

Please - let us not let it end with us.

Why?

CCC's Generosity Conference was this past Saturday - I'll talk more about it in a couple days, but I wanted to touch on something. If you attended, during lunch they were showing videos. I hope you got a chance to watch them. Now, I don't know if my mug showed up there (as I wasn't in there watching the whole time), but I did catch the short version of this:



...which, I think, is a great and powerful video. I could be any one of those touching tales. In there, the stories I like best are JJ's at 1:15 (she did another video you can view here) and the woman Ellen at 5:11 (edit: thanks Lisa!). Those two really hit me deep. See, it's stories like those that I need to keep in my heart and mind to remember why I am blessed to give. A while back, someone gave for me. Now I am celebrating the life that God gave me and knowing that Jesus died for me - I cannot forget this doesn't stop with me.

I think back to Dave Ferguson's story of the new kid on the block that invited Dave's father Earl to church, changing not just the lives of the Ferguson family, but hundreds and thousands of others. Because of that boy, I found my way back to God. He started, others followed, others gave of their time and their treasures, and now I am found.

It can't stop with me. It can't stop with any of us.