"For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness." -2 Corinthians 8:13-4
"I think love lays in wait for us." -Bob Goff
I don't remember when I first heard the words "slush fund."
But I do remember that when I was a kid, all the bad guys had off-shore bank accounts in Jamaica and Zurich and that's where they kept their bad money. I always wondered why you'd want to keep your money in a bank on the ocean, but eventually I discovered what "off-shore" meant.
And I knew I wanted one. It seemed exhilarating to have a stack of money that nobody knew about and that the police couldn't find out about or I'd be in big trouble! It seemed exciting.
Well, since I've gotten older and my allowance has gotten bigger (and stopped coming from good old Mom and Dad), I've started my own slush fund for purposes nobody knows about. It's exhilarating. And I'm going to let you in on the secret, because having secrets is sneaky and fun.
You ready? Here's the secret: I give it all away!
Yeah. That's right. I have this "secret amount" in my savings that I make sure to give away every year.
Now, I haven't always done this, of course. From my childhood, I hoarded all my money. Of course, when I was seven it was because I had to save to buy another pack of Pokemon cards. But nevertheless, that pattern didn't change much into my teenage years and early adulthood.
I work for the church, after all. And I still hated giving money away. I didn't give any money to the church. None. Nada.
The first inkling I got that there might be something better for my money to do was in my senior year of high school. I heard about this idea that you could sponsor a kid in Uganda. And that seemed pretty cool. I'm not sure why, but I was intrigued. So I found a guy whose birthday was near mine, and at Christmas I started sponsoring Sande in Uganda.
Nine and a half years have passed, and a lot has changed. But not Sande. Nope, we still write letters every month. But the seed that that one gift planted has grown into a full-sized tree.
You see, Jesus talks A LOT about money. More than anything else as a matter of fact. He has much to say about it. And how we use it. And I missed that for a long time, probably because the numbers on my bank statements were causing a glare in my focus every time I read his words. But eventually, after lots of God's patience, I started to see it.
Maybe there was something to this giving business. It must be important, otherwise Jesus would have talked about other, more important things, like puppies and rainbows. (Surprisingly, neither made it into the gospels!)
So little by little, I started to give away. But not alone. I had lots of friends who showed me how. It seems silly to have someone show you how to give money away, but when your hand is so trained to grasp the bills tightly, you need others to help you loosen your hold. I saw mentors and teachers giving recklessly. And I wanted to be like them.
So I made a radical change.
There's an idea in the bible of something called a tithe. It was the offering God's people would make of the first 1/10 of what they harvested. It didn't come after taxes and the bills were paid. It was the first tenth. Everything else in the budget got set after the tithe was offered.
For some reason I thought this seemed like an adventurous goal. So I started. And after two years, I've never thought about stopping. God hasn't given me more money. I haven't been blessed with more because I've given more. I'm pretty sure God doesn't want me to have an airplane. I'm pretty sure God is not a whimsical bank teller who pays out dividends when our itemized tax deductions get to a higher bracket.
But everything else in my budget has adjusted. The things in my life have gotten re-prioritized. Heck, I've added car payments and retirement contributions, and my budget hasn't gotten any tighter somehow. (And let's be clear, I'm a youth minister. If my salary can support any of this, anyone's can. Don't wait to give until you have enough. You'll never get there!)
It has focused me on the things that are important. Not perfectly. But it's helped. The more I've given, the more I've laughed. The more I've loved. The more I've grown.
But back to the slush fund, because I don't consider my tithe my slush fund. There's not much "fun" in tithing. It just kind of happens. No no, I have a separate fund for the fun!
About a year and a half ago, I took another, smaller amount and started giving it away to people and places I knew. Now, before you think I'm crazy, I didn't just start filling envelopes with cash and sending them out. That's ridiculous (but also a really interesting idea!)
No, I started going on the lookout for places to give to people who needed it. So, when local food banks send out notices asking for Thanksgiving help, I can help! And when friends are trying to raise money for mission trips or classroom projects, I can help! And when schools are starting in Uganda and selling bracelets to fundraise, I can help! And when old youth are raising money in college for their sororities, I can help!
And then I get to be a part of their stories! I have something to pray for. I have something to follow. I have pictures to look at and stories to hear. And I get the profound pleasure of helping others pursue their own whimsical stories and adventures to see what God has in store for them! I like to think of my money as the seed to others' extravagant and holy adventures. That seems like a worthwhile investment that will always pay out.
I don't say all of this to brag on myself. Oh goodness no! I have so far to go in learning about generosity. I have so far to go in letting Jesus teach me so much more about letting go. I'm such an unfinished product.
No no. I share all this to offer a little glimpse into the extravagant joy of giving. I share this to tell you that having a slush fund is just as exciting as the movies tell you it is.
So may we all learn to grow in generosity. May all of our fists loosen just a little bit. May we see our money not as our own to be stored up, but as a gift to plant seeds of grace and adventure and whimsical mischief. As as we do, may our priorities shift and our love be re-oriented towards the God who is in all things and gives all good things.
forever unfinished...
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Friday, April 15, 2016
Ecosystems...
"For what? For what? No matter what you do, it will never amount to anything more than a single drop in limitless ocean?" "What is an ocean but a multitude of drops?" -Cloud Atlas
"After this the Lord appointed 70 others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go." -Luke 10:1
"Can I change the world?"
That was a question I heard asked in a Q&A discussion a couple of weeks ago. It was the question of a college student for the presenter. The presenter? Rainn Wilson (a.k.a. Dwight Schrute).
It's not an uncommon question these days. Everywhere we turn we see movements and people doing big things in the world and wonder, "Why can't I do that?" And we can see all of these things because of the way our world is connected. We can see every little thing going on around us and the ways that people are actively changing the world.
It's true that the world has gotten smaller. And yet, instead of getting bigger, it feels like individuals have gotten smaller too.
When we were just connected to the people right around us, it was easy to measure our impact and know we were making a difference. Sure, we knew what was going on around the world, but it was somewhere there, and we were here. Our concern was the world right around us.
But when we're connected to everyone everywhere, suddenly the world right around us feels so much less significant. We're forced to compare ourselves to the entire world. Talk about a high standard. "Can I change the world?" takes on a little bigger tone when you're talking about the whole entire world.
A year ago I was at the ordination service for a friend at Brite, and a professor of his stood up to say a few words. "Michael," he said, "you make your ecosystem better."
It was a curious phrase, as I didn't know Michael to be a planter. But the professor continued.
"That's the thing about ecosystems. They constantly adjust to their participants. They are affected by the living organisms within them. Our goal ought to be to impact our ecosystems and force our surroundings to adjust to our presence. Michael, your presence in whichever ecosystem you are in leaves it better than it was before you got there."
That'll preach.
We can't change the world until we're to change our neighborhood, our workplaces, our schools. I imagine that if we looked at the people who have most impacted the world on a global scale, we'd find in their wake a mountain of little ecosystems that had been transformed by the power of love and hospitality and forgiveness and grace.
Kindness is a habit. Love is a habit. They are not skills enacted once. They are practiced over and over and over in smaller and smaller ways to impact the people around us.
It helps me to know Jesus didn't heal every single person who was sick. He didn't go to every city in the world. He didn't feed every single person who was hungry. But he did impact his direct ecosystem. That was his call. That was his mission.
He changed the world because he changed the ecosystems around him. You see, he changed the lives of people right around him, and they went out and the love they'd experienced forced their ecosystems to adjust. And it just went out, one ripple at a time. Don't think that the ripple of your life can't change the world. Just one ripple can cause another and another. We're just called to love our ecosystem.
Go meet your neighbors. Visit some seniors in your community. Take a trip to the hospital. Share a cup of coffee with a homeless neighbor and hear their story. The world is changed as God's love ripples through our ecosystems, forcing them to shift because love is too powerful a force to be restrained and shut out.
So may you go change the world, one ripple at a time. May your ecosystem adjust to the love you bring into it. May you learn to see your ecosystem as your world. And may you see the world changed by the love of Jesus one day at a time.
forever unfinished...
"After this the Lord appointed 70 others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go." -Luke 10:1
"Can I change the world?"
That was a question I heard asked in a Q&A discussion a couple of weeks ago. It was the question of a college student for the presenter. The presenter? Rainn Wilson (a.k.a. Dwight Schrute).
It's not an uncommon question these days. Everywhere we turn we see movements and people doing big things in the world and wonder, "Why can't I do that?" And we can see all of these things because of the way our world is connected. We can see every little thing going on around us and the ways that people are actively changing the world.
It's true that the world has gotten smaller. And yet, instead of getting bigger, it feels like individuals have gotten smaller too.
When we were just connected to the people right around us, it was easy to measure our impact and know we were making a difference. Sure, we knew what was going on around the world, but it was somewhere there, and we were here. Our concern was the world right around us.
But when we're connected to everyone everywhere, suddenly the world right around us feels so much less significant. We're forced to compare ourselves to the entire world. Talk about a high standard. "Can I change the world?" takes on a little bigger tone when you're talking about the whole entire world.
A year ago I was at the ordination service for a friend at Brite, and a professor of his stood up to say a few words. "Michael," he said, "you make your ecosystem better."
It was a curious phrase, as I didn't know Michael to be a planter. But the professor continued.
"That's the thing about ecosystems. They constantly adjust to their participants. They are affected by the living organisms within them. Our goal ought to be to impact our ecosystems and force our surroundings to adjust to our presence. Michael, your presence in whichever ecosystem you are in leaves it better than it was before you got there."
That'll preach.
We can't change the world until we're to change our neighborhood, our workplaces, our schools. I imagine that if we looked at the people who have most impacted the world on a global scale, we'd find in their wake a mountain of little ecosystems that had been transformed by the power of love and hospitality and forgiveness and grace.
Kindness is a habit. Love is a habit. They are not skills enacted once. They are practiced over and over and over in smaller and smaller ways to impact the people around us.
It helps me to know Jesus didn't heal every single person who was sick. He didn't go to every city in the world. He didn't feed every single person who was hungry. But he did impact his direct ecosystem. That was his call. That was his mission.
He changed the world because he changed the ecosystems around him. You see, he changed the lives of people right around him, and they went out and the love they'd experienced forced their ecosystems to adjust. And it just went out, one ripple at a time. Don't think that the ripple of your life can't change the world. Just one ripple can cause another and another. We're just called to love our ecosystem.
Go meet your neighbors. Visit some seniors in your community. Take a trip to the hospital. Share a cup of coffee with a homeless neighbor and hear their story. The world is changed as God's love ripples through our ecosystems, forcing them to shift because love is too powerful a force to be restrained and shut out.
So may you go change the world, one ripple at a time. May your ecosystem adjust to the love you bring into it. May you learn to see your ecosystem as your world. And may you see the world changed by the love of Jesus one day at a time.
forever unfinished...
Friday, April 8, 2016
Meet Me in St. Louis...
"The Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country, your people, and your father's household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.'" -Genesis 12:1-3
Praying is a dangerous business. When we start praying, we're inviting God to be a part of the story, and when that happens, plans can often go awry and our trajectories can shift.
Case in point: four years ago, I was all ready to move to Washington D.C. to start seminary at Wesley Theological Seminary. I was going to spend three years learning, being a youth minister, and exploring our nation's capital. It was tuition free. It was a city I loved. I was doing a program for people who were called to youth ministry. What could be better?
Well, at the time I had some awesome guys in my neighborhood who had started a small group in our living room. We talked a lot about Jesus and played a lot of Nintendo 64 (that's a prime small group experience!)
As I was talking about my plans, one of the guys asked if I'd been praying about it. "Well, no," I started. "But this thing is a slam dunk and I'm positive this is where I'm supposed to be. It's just too clear." Like a good friend, he was supportive. But he asked me to pray about it a little bit.
So later that night, after losing quite a few games of Super Smash Bros, I went out to the Furman golf course where I'd go to pray and think and watch the stars from the 13th green. And there under the stars on a perfectly clear night, I started praying.
"This feels like exactly where you're calling me. Buttttt, if this isn't right, I need you to hit me in the face with some kind of club." That was my prayer.
The next day the school called to let me know that the youth ministry program I'd been accepted into was being put off for a year. The school would do everything they could to get me as much scholarship money as they could, but it probably wouldn't be a full-ride. And they'd do everything they could to set me up in a youth job in a church, but there weren't any guarantees.
The day after that, I got an e-mail from my old youth minister about a job in Fort Worth, Texas that he thought I'd be great for.
Face. Meet club.
You see, I'd been praying another prayer as I was trying to figure out where I was going next. Anywhere but Texas, God. ANYWHERE! I was willing to answer a call to Boston. Or Vietnam. Or North Dakota. Heck, even Oklahoma. But NOT TEXAS.
Well, in the past four years, there's never been a single moment when I've regretted going out to the golf course that night. Fort Worth was exactly where I was supposed to be. These families and this place have captured my heart. God has taught me immeasurably much. In a few short weeks, I graduate with a Master of Divinity from a great school.
And that's where this new adventure into praying starts, I suppose. About a year I started asking God what lay ahead of me after graduation. Would I just stay where I was? Would I do something different at the church? Was I supposed to be somewhere else doing something different? And I just waited. Patiently some days. Other days less so.
And towards the end of the summer, I started to get a nibble of an answer. It was time for me to start leading a youth ministry of my own. I didn't know where or doing what. But I had a start.
So my prayer changed a bit. I started praying for the church whose name I didn't know yet. I started praying God would prepare them for me and me for them.
And eight months later, I've learned the name of that church: The Gathering UMC in St. Louis.
Yep, in a little more than a month I will be following a new call. To the Midwest! Who knew?? That's what happens when we start to pray. We end up being led to places we didn't even know existed. We find ourselves wrapped up in a story God is telling.
And I couldn't be more excited. When God called Abram, he was happy. He was content. He didn't want to go anywhere. And God called.
He was being asked to leave his home, everything and everybody he'd ever known. He was being asked to go somewhere whose name he didn't know. But he didn't go without promises. "I will bless you," promised the Lord. "And I will bless the world through you." That's a heck of a promise.
As I get ready for this new adventure, this new challenge, this new chapter, I hold onto that promise. When we let God into our stories, praying for the next chapter, it's entirely possible it won't be where we expect. It may be into the great unknown. But we go knowing God will be with us. And through us, the people around us will be blessed.
I am so excited about the whimsy and wonder that awaits in St. Louis. I can't wait to see what God has in store there.
And I couldn't be more anxious about leaving this place that God led four years ago. My friends. This city. This church. These teenagers and their families. They've left fingerprints of love on my heart that I'll never be able to wash off. They've been the answer to God's promise to bless when we follow God's call.
But it's time to follow a new call. May we all invite ourselves into God's whimsical and extravagant calling. May we ask where God is leading. And may we be willing to listen, even if the direction isn't anything like where we think it ought to be.
forever unfinished...
Praying is a dangerous business. When we start praying, we're inviting God to be a part of the story, and when that happens, plans can often go awry and our trajectories can shift.
Case in point: four years ago, I was all ready to move to Washington D.C. to start seminary at Wesley Theological Seminary. I was going to spend three years learning, being a youth minister, and exploring our nation's capital. It was tuition free. It was a city I loved. I was doing a program for people who were called to youth ministry. What could be better?
Well, at the time I had some awesome guys in my neighborhood who had started a small group in our living room. We talked a lot about Jesus and played a lot of Nintendo 64 (that's a prime small group experience!)
As I was talking about my plans, one of the guys asked if I'd been praying about it. "Well, no," I started. "But this thing is a slam dunk and I'm positive this is where I'm supposed to be. It's just too clear." Like a good friend, he was supportive. But he asked me to pray about it a little bit.
So later that night, after losing quite a few games of Super Smash Bros, I went out to the Furman golf course where I'd go to pray and think and watch the stars from the 13th green. And there under the stars on a perfectly clear night, I started praying.
"This feels like exactly where you're calling me. Buttttt, if this isn't right, I need you to hit me in the face with some kind of club." That was my prayer.
The next day the school called to let me know that the youth ministry program I'd been accepted into was being put off for a year. The school would do everything they could to get me as much scholarship money as they could, but it probably wouldn't be a full-ride. And they'd do everything they could to set me up in a youth job in a church, but there weren't any guarantees.
The day after that, I got an e-mail from my old youth minister about a job in Fort Worth, Texas that he thought I'd be great for.
Face. Meet club.
You see, I'd been praying another prayer as I was trying to figure out where I was going next. Anywhere but Texas, God. ANYWHERE! I was willing to answer a call to Boston. Or Vietnam. Or North Dakota. Heck, even Oklahoma. But NOT TEXAS.
Well, in the past four years, there's never been a single moment when I've regretted going out to the golf course that night. Fort Worth was exactly where I was supposed to be. These families and this place have captured my heart. God has taught me immeasurably much. In a few short weeks, I graduate with a Master of Divinity from a great school.
And that's where this new adventure into praying starts, I suppose. About a year I started asking God what lay ahead of me after graduation. Would I just stay where I was? Would I do something different at the church? Was I supposed to be somewhere else doing something different? And I just waited. Patiently some days. Other days less so.
And towards the end of the summer, I started to get a nibble of an answer. It was time for me to start leading a youth ministry of my own. I didn't know where or doing what. But I had a start.
So my prayer changed a bit. I started praying for the church whose name I didn't know yet. I started praying God would prepare them for me and me for them.
And eight months later, I've learned the name of that church: The Gathering UMC in St. Louis.
Yep, in a little more than a month I will be following a new call. To the Midwest! Who knew?? That's what happens when we start to pray. We end up being led to places we didn't even know existed. We find ourselves wrapped up in a story God is telling.
And I couldn't be more excited. When God called Abram, he was happy. He was content. He didn't want to go anywhere. And God called.
He was being asked to leave his home, everything and everybody he'd ever known. He was being asked to go somewhere whose name he didn't know. But he didn't go without promises. "I will bless you," promised the Lord. "And I will bless the world through you." That's a heck of a promise.
As I get ready for this new adventure, this new challenge, this new chapter, I hold onto that promise. When we let God into our stories, praying for the next chapter, it's entirely possible it won't be where we expect. It may be into the great unknown. But we go knowing God will be with us. And through us, the people around us will be blessed.
I am so excited about the whimsy and wonder that awaits in St. Louis. I can't wait to see what God has in store there.
And I couldn't be more anxious about leaving this place that God led four years ago. My friends. This city. This church. These teenagers and their families. They've left fingerprints of love on my heart that I'll never be able to wash off. They've been the answer to God's promise to bless when we follow God's call.
But it's time to follow a new call. May we all invite ourselves into God's whimsical and extravagant calling. May we ask where God is leading. And may we be willing to listen, even if the direction isn't anything like where we think it ought to be.
forever unfinished...
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