You can say that I have a lifestyle job. It drastically affects my life and as taxing as it is at times, I absolutely love it. I remember when I was filling out some paperwork for our insurance with Hidden With Christ. As I was filling it out, Lydia came into my office and I asked her what she put for how many hours she works per week. Its kind of a hard thing to quantify, because it was our “job” that drove us all the way to the other side of the earth in the first place. And time isn’t the only thing that my “job” affects. Read any blog from last year and you’ll see the emotional cost of this line of work. Not to mention the effect it has on close relationships that I have with people I’ve known for years. My lifestyle job has had a drastic effect on every area of my life. I wouldn’t trade it for the world, because the difficulties are only matched by the tremendous joys I experience with those around the kids, namely the kids.
Among the many areas that my job affects is our personal finances. Because of the line of work that Melissa and I are in we are forced to kind of live on the edge financially. In fact the entire operation at Hidden With Christ is a live by faith endeavor financially. We trust that God will provide and we realize that His major mode of financial transport is through generous people; most Christians, many not. People will sometimes ask how we make money at TOA and how I get paid, in the framing of their question I can tell they seem to think that I must make “good money” or that that is one of the highlights of working in a developing country. I posture myself and highlight that we don’t have anything product that we’re producing that would return gains to us. In the strictly worldly sense, we’re a drain on the economy, outside of those Tanzanians that we employ.
So what does that mean for me and Melissa? It means we are forced to fundraise and trust in God’s provision. We get a modest monthly stipend from Hidden With Christ that helps cover our expenses, but at the same time one could write into our job description under the payment heading “God will provide.” And I don’t say that flippantly or to exaggerate, because the truth is, He absolutely does provide.
I feel as though I note it often, but I truly love the way that God designed the Church to function. Without a doubt, the people and supposed people that comprise the Church have made some terrible decisions and drudged through scandalous affairs over the last 2,000 years. But that doesn’t change that Christ chose His Bride to be the vehicle for His glory to be unveiled in the world. As a missionary, I feel so blessed to be in a position where I see the beauty of the Church more often than the normal person. I can’t think of an area where that is more true than when it comes to money.
Jesus has an interesting take on generosity. One of my favorite commentaries is when Jesus is remarking about the widow putting her two mites into the temple treasury. While the wealthy made much of their donations and gave large amounts, Jesus said that she gave more, because it was all she had. She gave out of her poverty and her worship cost her something.
I found myself in an interesting spot a few weeks ago as Melissa was in a wedding down in Camarillo. While Melissa spent the night before the wedding with the other bridesmaids, I ended up spending the night with one of the groomsmen in a house that he and his wife were house sitting. This house was huge and had all the bells and whistles; six or seven bedrooms, three car garage, advanced security systems, exercise machines, flat screen TVs, kitchen gadgets and the biggest fridge I’ve ever seen. The husband of the couple that lived there is a published Christian author and edited one of the biggest Christian fiction books of the last several years. He and his wife were off touring Europe doing conferences and the like. Yeah, they were doing well. He and his wife are the only ones that live there as their children have grown up and married. I remarked to my new friend that it was bigger than TOA and I wasn’t exaggerating. It was undoubtedly the nicest and most expensive house that I’ve ever stayed in.
Now, to be fair, I really don’t know a whole lot about this guy, but you can learn a thing or two about a person from the way that they set up their home. Perhaps they give a large amount of money to people, in which case God bless them. Wealthy people have the highest financial responsibility within the church. But it was also quite clear that they were sitting on a lot of money as well. There’s no disputing it. When I think of friends in Tanzania, people of faith and character, suffering from lack of basic needs , it makes me quite uneasy to know that other Christians are living so exorbitantly.
Now if that were an example of the wealthy men dropping money bags into the treasury, I have an even better story that contrasts it. Just as the widow who gave out of her need was seen as the righteous giver, so is this couple that I’ll speak of next.
We had originally planned to use our gift money from the wedding to purchase a vehicle in Tanzania. Our guests were so generous and we thank God for them, but it wasn’t enough to get the vehicle we’ve had our eye on and had to use some of that money for other things anyways. We put it in God’s hands, gave thanks for what we did have and prayed that God would provide enough for us to get the car. We posted a blog on our website giving an update on how everything was going as we prepare to head back (click here to read it) and that night we had our life group pray for us and for the car specifically.
The next day, Melissa got an email from a friend she hasn’t even seen in a few years. She used to work at a camp with Melissa’s older sister Rebecca. She had read our blog and asked how much we needed for the car that we were hoping to get. Melissa wrote back and told her that it was $10,000 (cars are more expensive in Tanzania, because they’re not as common and everything’s imported). A couple days later, she messaged Melissa back and said that her and her husband were going to send us $5,000 to go towards the car. $5,000. When we received the check, there was a note inside where the couple shared their hearts with us a little. Now when I say a couple, I’m not talking about some elderly couple with money to burn. I’m talking a couple in their twenties who just got out of seminary. What was even more astounding was what they wrote in the letter. They wrote about how they only have one car and had been debating whether or not to get a second so that they could both have one. As they said in the letter, they are happy to know that their second car will be used by us in Tanzania.
That’s beautiful. That’s the widow throwing two mites in the treasury type of beautiful. I have other stories of radical generosity and it never ceases to amaze me. I am blessed to be in a position where I get to see it from time to time. God is faithful and He uses faithful people like this couple to advance the Kingdom. We’ve had to give up stuff to get to Tanzania, but for us as a married couple to have a car as opposed to riding a scooter around (that is our only other option), that’s huge. That’s beautiful. That’s God’s plan and these fellow disciples have chosen to align themselves with His design. What a meaningful way to use one’s money. That’s what money’s for. To bless God and to bless others, I thank God for this couple and every other supporter of ours. Its His design for missions and for His Church to work this way, for this we give praise.
-------------------
The Rundown: Haven’t done one of these in a while. At any rate, I’ll keep it short. We take off tomorrow morning at 9:45 AM and fly Emirates (Business class apparently - don’t know how we pulled that off!) which is a 16 hour flight then take a five hour flight to Nairobi. Spend the night in Nairobi then take the shuttle to Tanzania the next day. We’ll get into Moshi on Friday afternoon. Our house ought to be ready, but our first month there will be spent settling in and making the house a home. We are still waiting on the car situation, we are way closer thanks to our friends, but not out of the woods yet. God will provide anymore funds that we need, that’s just what He does. Pray for us. Last two goodbyes are Melissa’s sister Candace and her mom. Tears will be coming but thank God for the support and love of our families. I’ll try and blog more regularly once I’m back in the mighty TZ. Until then…
Among the many areas that my job affects is our personal finances. Because of the line of work that Melissa and I are in we are forced to kind of live on the edge financially. In fact the entire operation at Hidden With Christ is a live by faith endeavor financially. We trust that God will provide and we realize that His major mode of financial transport is through generous people; most Christians, many not. People will sometimes ask how we make money at TOA and how I get paid, in the framing of their question I can tell they seem to think that I must make “good money” or that that is one of the highlights of working in a developing country. I posture myself and highlight that we don’t have anything product that we’re producing that would return gains to us. In the strictly worldly sense, we’re a drain on the economy, outside of those Tanzanians that we employ.
So what does that mean for me and Melissa? It means we are forced to fundraise and trust in God’s provision. We get a modest monthly stipend from Hidden With Christ that helps cover our expenses, but at the same time one could write into our job description under the payment heading “God will provide.” And I don’t say that flippantly or to exaggerate, because the truth is, He absolutely does provide.
I feel as though I note it often, but I truly love the way that God designed the Church to function. Without a doubt, the people and supposed people that comprise the Church have made some terrible decisions and drudged through scandalous affairs over the last 2,000 years. But that doesn’t change that Christ chose His Bride to be the vehicle for His glory to be unveiled in the world. As a missionary, I feel so blessed to be in a position where I see the beauty of the Church more often than the normal person. I can’t think of an area where that is more true than when it comes to money.
Jesus has an interesting take on generosity. One of my favorite commentaries is when Jesus is remarking about the widow putting her two mites into the temple treasury. While the wealthy made much of their donations and gave large amounts, Jesus said that she gave more, because it was all she had. She gave out of her poverty and her worship cost her something.
I found myself in an interesting spot a few weeks ago as Melissa was in a wedding down in Camarillo. While Melissa spent the night before the wedding with the other bridesmaids, I ended up spending the night with one of the groomsmen in a house that he and his wife were house sitting. This house was huge and had all the bells and whistles; six or seven bedrooms, three car garage, advanced security systems, exercise machines, flat screen TVs, kitchen gadgets and the biggest fridge I’ve ever seen. The husband of the couple that lived there is a published Christian author and edited one of the biggest Christian fiction books of the last several years. He and his wife were off touring Europe doing conferences and the like. Yeah, they were doing well. He and his wife are the only ones that live there as their children have grown up and married. I remarked to my new friend that it was bigger than TOA and I wasn’t exaggerating. It was undoubtedly the nicest and most expensive house that I’ve ever stayed in.
Now, to be fair, I really don’t know a whole lot about this guy, but you can learn a thing or two about a person from the way that they set up their home. Perhaps they give a large amount of money to people, in which case God bless them. Wealthy people have the highest financial responsibility within the church. But it was also quite clear that they were sitting on a lot of money as well. There’s no disputing it. When I think of friends in Tanzania, people of faith and character, suffering from lack of basic needs , it makes me quite uneasy to know that other Christians are living so exorbitantly.
Now if that were an example of the wealthy men dropping money bags into the treasury, I have an even better story that contrasts it. Just as the widow who gave out of her need was seen as the righteous giver, so is this couple that I’ll speak of next.
We had originally planned to use our gift money from the wedding to purchase a vehicle in Tanzania. Our guests were so generous and we thank God for them, but it wasn’t enough to get the vehicle we’ve had our eye on and had to use some of that money for other things anyways. We put it in God’s hands, gave thanks for what we did have and prayed that God would provide enough for us to get the car. We posted a blog on our website giving an update on how everything was going as we prepare to head back (click here to read it) and that night we had our life group pray for us and for the car specifically.
 |
| We're praying we can get this car |
The next day, Melissa got an email from a friend she hasn’t even seen in a few years. She used to work at a camp with Melissa’s older sister Rebecca. She had read our blog and asked how much we needed for the car that we were hoping to get. Melissa wrote back and told her that it was $10,000 (cars are more expensive in Tanzania, because they’re not as common and everything’s imported). A couple days later, she messaged Melissa back and said that her and her husband were going to send us $5,000 to go towards the car. $5,000. When we received the check, there was a note inside where the couple shared their hearts with us a little. Now when I say a couple, I’m not talking about some elderly couple with money to burn. I’m talking a couple in their twenties who just got out of seminary. What was even more astounding was what they wrote in the letter. They wrote about how they only have one car and had been debating whether or not to get a second so that they could both have one. As they said in the letter, they are happy to know that their second car will be used by us in Tanzania.
That’s beautiful. That’s the widow throwing two mites in the treasury type of beautiful. I have other stories of radical generosity and it never ceases to amaze me. I am blessed to be in a position where I get to see it from time to time. God is faithful and He uses faithful people like this couple to advance the Kingdom. We’ve had to give up stuff to get to Tanzania, but for us as a married couple to have a car as opposed to riding a scooter around (that is our only other option), that’s huge. That’s beautiful. That’s God’s plan and these fellow disciples have chosen to align themselves with His design. What a meaningful way to use one’s money. That’s what money’s for. To bless God and to bless others, I thank God for this couple and every other supporter of ours. Its His design for missions and for His Church to work this way, for this we give praise.
-------------------
The Rundown: Haven’t done one of these in a while. At any rate, I’ll keep it short. We take off tomorrow morning at 9:45 AM and fly Emirates (Business class apparently - don’t know how we pulled that off!) which is a 16 hour flight then take a five hour flight to Nairobi. Spend the night in Nairobi then take the shuttle to Tanzania the next day. We’ll get into Moshi on Friday afternoon. Our house ought to be ready, but our first month there will be spent settling in and making the house a home. We are still waiting on the car situation, we are way closer thanks to our friends, but not out of the woods yet. God will provide anymore funds that we need, that’s just what He does. Pray for us. Last two goodbyes are Melissa’s sister Candace and her mom. Tears will be coming but thank God for the support and love of our families. I’ll try and blog more regularly once I’m back in the mighty TZ. Until then…
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