Doing the Possible

Let me tell you what just happened an hour ago. This morning for lecture, Loren Cunningham (found of YWAM) spoke to us about faith & finances. I knew it was going to be amazing...and it was. Not only were Loren's stories amazing of how God has provided, but God also came and did what we thought was impossible. Our lecture fee of $3900 was due the day we arrived here. "Due" being flexible because it turned out that some people still didn't have the money, they were waiting on God to bring it in. And how faithful He is! Those people had until next Thursday to have all of it turned in. So Loren said something along the lines of, "there are 7 people in this room that still owe lecture fees. I want to invite those people up here so we can take an offering."

As the body of Christ, we are called to support one another. Not by what is logical to give or how much you can afford...but by what God tells us to give. The whole church should be operating like that. A model of how we are meant to live.

And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. -Acts 2:44-47

It makes sense to live like that. God created us to form communities centered around Him and taking care of each other. So the 7 people stood up there with Loren. Some needing $200...others needing up to $3700 still.  The rest of the ~100 people stayed in their chairs as we asked God if he wanted us to give anything. Not only that, but who to give it to. Money came in in every form, even sheets of paper with pledges and the giver's name on them. The floodgates released. For the next half hour, a stream of people walked up and down the aisles, humbled by what God was doing in their hearts. People were called to sacrifice large amounts as well as small amounts...all based on truth that God would take care of them as well.

You could tell by the looks on the faces of those people how grateful they were. Tears streaming down their faces, they were humbled by gifts of the students that had become family to them. We sat back watching as they hugged every one who came up to give them money. Thirty minutes of standing in awe of God. Amazing.

We waited as the staff helped them count the money in order to see how much they still needed. Those in the seats sat with anticipation. The leader of our school, Andrew, came on the mic to call on each of the 7 to say how much they got. $2100...$1300...$1100...$900...$700....$700...$3200...PRASE THE LORD! After doing the math, we saw there was still a need of about $4000 among all 7 of them. Andrew broke and spoke to a few staff members. He came back on and announced that there was $3500 that was given to split among the 7 people! He broke again to talk to a student. Came back on and said, "Yeah, we got it all covered."

OVER $17,000. Seventeen-THOUSAND. Dollars. From college students. All lecture fees covered. God is faithful. He is our father and provider. Those 7 people came here not knowing how they would cover even the first half of school. Yet they were faithful to God's calling to come here and because of that there will now be 7 more missionaries going into the world to share the love of Christ. God is good. Always.

God can do anything. All you need is that step of faith.