$$$$

I went to an interesting talk this week. It was about $, riches and wealth. The speaker says the bible has defined these 3 things differently. $ is a man made thing. Riches are what you have between $ and wealth and wealth is about a home, people etc. I happen to know this man belongs to Youth With A Mission and I know in Youth With A Mission people don't get paid. They trust God to provide for them so he's practicing what he is preaching and allowing God to be his employer. He left a his job at IBM to be a missionary with Youth With A Mission years ago and he says when he left he was asked, "what's it like to get your last pay cheque? and his answer was freeing...because he was free to do what God wants him to do"

I've got other friends in YWAM and I'm pretty sure I don't have the faith they have. I like the control of being able to take care of myself in a responsible manner. I think of Paul saying "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Phil 4:11-12
Well as strange as this may seem I find it harder with lots than with little. I've gone through the days of no food. No I didn't starve but I know what it's like to wait in line to buy a lbs of sugar but now I have. Is it right to spend on me??? A year or so God challenged me on this. Was I being a good Christian by not spending or was I just taking control of things God needed to control? Having means I need (or get to) decide where to spend. Do I believe God loves me enough to take care of me? It says He will but do I believe it? Am I prepared to obey Him no matter what? Do I believe He knows best? Will I allow Him to prove Himself to me?

Fortunately God can break through inspite of me. I decided to go on a Mission Trip to Guatemala. Since I can afford this and since I thought of it as a winter vacation I didn't see the need to ask others to help out. I just paid for it myself. What is neat is that when I arrived home from Guatemala I had a bonus cheque from work that covered this trip almost to the dollar! It's not that this $ is mine because I already promised God I would give it all away, no matter how much I got...but just the fact God, not I, decided to pay for my trip...I think this is cool. But God wasn't done here. He took my offering of my unknown amount on the bonus cheque and decided that I should have some too. You see, my boss came to me and told me my bonus cheque wasn't enough and he'd work on getting me more $...but the money to come is not part of my promise to God! I think it's awesome.

So now the Kingdom adventure continues. Since you've read this far are you prepared to follow God's direction now? Is God directing you to do something and you need money to do it? Can you take a little money and multiply it in God's kingdom? Here it is. I'll give $100 to the first 5 people that ask for it in the comments of this blog (if I know how to get a hold of you). I will then trust God to use them and the $ for Kingdom purposes. If you choose to report back and tell us how the venture went all the better. I know, some of you will think I'm crazy, others will think there is a catch, some may decide to use the $ selfishly; it doesn't matter. Remember, this website is dedicated to getting an eternal perspective on things. I'd love it if someone takes the money and comes back with a good story on how it was used for God's kingdom...but even if this doesn't happen I'm okay with it...because it's God's money.

Guatemala

What a neat adventure. I didn't realize it had live volcanoes and you can actually see them puffing out smoke (from a distance that is). My only disappointment here was I didn't actually see the orange lava (and don't think I'm the only one that thinks like this; my room mate on the trip wanted to see it too!)

I now have all my pictures back and I'm expecting pictures from other team members this weekend because I'm going to put together a power point presentation on the trip. They'll be showing to at Compass Point Church on March 26th. I'm not sure what time the services are there. I'm thinking it might be shown at all three services.

As a quick summary though; we had a great team, I painted a lot and worked on getting over my fear of heights, we put on a couple of kids programs and we got to tour. Our full weekend away we got to spend in a tourist place near a lake surround by mountains.