Three weeks ago I received two pieces of mail on the same day. The first, a request from John 3:16 Mission asking for $1.92. This is a local non-profit organization who put on a Thanksgiving dinner for those who are down and out. The request said simply that for $1.92 they could feed someone a Thanksgiving dinner. I remember getting these in years past and simply discarding it and thinking... "I bet they paid almost a dollar every time they send that out." This year I was jogged out of this line of thinking by the second piece of mail. In the next envelope I received a solicitation to complete a survey. To entice me to fill this survey out, they enclosed two crisp $1 bills. "Hmm... I could just put this two dollars in the John 3:16 envelope and I'm not out any money, and someone gets a meal!" So, that's exactly what I did. Sadly I admit, I felt pretty good about myself.
Tonight, I went through the day's mail. The first envelope... "Hmm... John 3:16 Mission is pretty persistent. This is the second $1.92 request they've sent me. Maybe they thought since I gave $2, I'd give two more." I didn't open it. I tossed it to the trash pile. The next piece of mail was clearly some junk solicitation, but I like to shred anything that might have my information on it, so I opened it. "You're kidding..." Yep, two crisp $1 bills. Wow. That's pretty coincidental! I folded the bills up and placed them into the John 3:16 enveloped and licked the adhesive... Pause...
I didn't close then envelope. Something deep within stopped me. I remembered recently having thoughts of trying to loosen the grip money has on me by giving away $50 of my "fun money" each month. I also remembered having discussions with my friend Tim about "It's God's money, I want to manage it as he leads me." Next, I thought how this occurrence is too coincidental to be a coincidence. I grabbed my wallet, I had about $55 in there... I put $50 in the envelope... plus the two $1 bills. Sealed it up.
"Father, please don't just feed 25 people... Let the meal be the start of a cascade that leads to reconciliation to you. Lead them to be reborn into the spirit. Amen." David
Tonight, I went through the day's mail. The first envelope... "Hmm... John 3:16 Mission is pretty persistent. This is the second $1.92 request they've sent me. Maybe they thought since I gave $2, I'd give two more." I didn't open it. I tossed it to the trash pile. The next piece of mail was clearly some junk solicitation, but I like to shred anything that might have my information on it, so I opened it. "You're kidding..." Yep, two crisp $1 bills. Wow. That's pretty coincidental! I folded the bills up and placed them into the John 3:16 enveloped and licked the adhesive... Pause...
I didn't close then envelope. Something deep within stopped me. I remembered recently having thoughts of trying to loosen the grip money has on me by giving away $50 of my "fun money" each month. I also remembered having discussions with my friend Tim about "It's God's money, I want to manage it as he leads me." Next, I thought how this occurrence is too coincidental to be a coincidence. I grabbed my wallet, I had about $55 in there... I put $50 in the envelope... plus the two $1 bills. Sealed it up.
"Father, please don't just feed 25 people... Let the meal be the start of a cascade that leads to reconciliation to you. Lead them to be reborn into the spirit. Amen." David
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