Money Talks

    

     Money has been on my mind a lot in recent days.  The sub jobs available to me are few and far between, and whatever pay I get from them is quickly spent on gas to travel to and from downtown Richmond.  As the Christmas season begins, I struggle to think about how I am going to afford getting "proper" gifts for my family.  It even flows into my mind in support raising.  How can I ask others to give to my work when I have no money to give back to others?  This sense of guilt has been building over some time now, only culminating recently when I had a discussion with my pastor.  It finally hit me--- I am bad with money.  Not only am I bad with managing my own finances, but I have such a weak spirit of faith and such a strong fear of man, that I struggle to talk about giving with other people.  It is so easy for me to think it is all about me, that people base their decisions to give on how convicting I am, how much of a giver I am.  What a helpless feeling that is! Yes, if it was all up to me, I would really be in some trouble.  It is freeing to know that the exact opposite is true. 

James 4:13 reads, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit; ' whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.' But now you boast in your arrogance.  All such  boasting is evil.  Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." 

How quick I am to complicate things in my life.  If I could only remember these words each day and stop thinking about the appearance of things. 

hope international

Children International

Last night, I got to hear some very encouraging words from Katie Nienow, the head of Development for Hope International.  Hope International is a micro-financing organization that works in developing countries.  Here is the website.  Katie is pretty much the head of fundraising for the company, and she meets with people in the top socio-economic tiers and discusses giving with them.  What a bold woman!  I was very inspired by her passion for justice and for giving.  She brought up some very good ideas for keeping our finances in perspective.  First, she mentioned how apt we are to compare ourselves with those around us who have more.  It makes us feel like we are the lacking ones.  She urged us to keep a global mindset, reminding us that compared to everywhere else in the world, we are in the top brackets of wealth.  I was also hit with the idea of accountability and transparency in spending.  She posed the idea of sharing our bank statements with a close friend who can keep us in check.  That idea had never crossed my mind before.  We read from 2 Corinthians 8, which calls us to give freely.  When it  comes down to it, I should have no reservations about reminding myself and others to give-- our God has already made sacrifice for all of our needs.  The least we can do is give in hopes of reflecting this grace. 

World Vision, working the cuteness