Giving, Blessings, and Abundance

I am posting this approximately 4 months after I originally wrote it. This begs the question of: why now? Answer: I just wasn't ready to put this out there yet, it didn't seem like the right time.

Now, I feel it is the "right time". It speaks to why I am at Journey and working towards ordination. It speaks to those that might feel that Journey has lost something as we have struggled to get our Warehouse remodel completed. It speaks to being in the desert and how our faith nourishes us. It speaks to abundance that is present, even when we don't know or believe it!


I sit here thinking about the talk that my wife Stephanie and I will give this Sunday to our fledgling little faith community about giving. How do you communicate in terms that reach each of those folks sitting out there? How can you tell them how blessed we all are if they don't already know it.

Do you tell them the story of being in a horrific boating accident and having one of the EMS responders pull a sheet over your head. How, for what seemed like hours, you ponder the idea that you are dead and trying to decide if it is true. Then thinking how does one decide if you have never been dead. Ultimately you decide to yell, "I'm not dead yet!" to see what happens. Do you tell them that from that day forward you decided to live every day like it was your last and how blessed those days have been. How that moment led to working at all levels of Habitat for Humanity. To seeing miracles in people lives through the selfless giving of volunteers. Some of which had almost nothing but the desire to help their fellow man.

Do I tell them that I believe that I am blessed with abundance even though we went through bankruptcy last year? That we lost our house because the city of Pearland decided to build a major road right behind our house. How do I make them understand that even with this, we are blessed.

How else would we have come back to Austin, to have our beautiful son Ryan, to help start Journey, to be with our aging parents, to start the path towards ordination? How would my wife have started her own Music Therapy practice and touch the lives of so many people in need?

The answer is that God has immersed us in abundance. Let's be clear that we are talking about far more than money! In our case, money is a small part of God's abundance. Abundance is the time he gives me to lead the Warehouse remodel, the bountiful time to spend with our kids, the time to work with non-profits working in our community, the gift he gives Stephanie to work with traumatically brain-injured patients who learn to walk or talk again and regain some semblence of a normal life, the talent to play her flute and bring joy to so many people.

So are we the only ones that are this blessed? Of course not! Everyone has been blessed in many ways and can bring those God given talents and blessings to help others. To be the servant of those around us and thus to be a leader in our servitude. To remove our expectations and fear and to truly join God in his amazing works being done all around us. When we do this, we have truly embraced his abundance. Without need, there is no fear. Without fear, there is the room to embrace each other - Love. God knows this and is just waiting for us to join him. I am all in, how about you?

Blessings and good night!