Sometimes, we have to make decisions that aren't popular, well-accepted, understood, or even that humanly reasonable. Recently, I was talking with a volunteer and the pastor of the church our ministry is partnered with in the city. On December 15 we are having a Christmas celebration at our Saturday outreach. We are praying for 200 toys to be provided for us to give parents and grandparents in the community for their children. A small committee is working on the logistics of this - price range, delivery, hand out procedure etc. As we talked in the sanctuary last Friday, we voiced concerns about the toy distribution procedure. What if many of the families were large? Would we run out of gifts? Did we need to set a limit per family even if that meant not all the kids would get a gift? Would that be worse than running out of gifts? What if some lied about how many gifts they needed? What if some standing in line became agitated? I listened to the conversation while also mulling over these questions in my mind. They were valid points and I knew that the 15th was going to be a jam packed day with the gifts and everything else planned. So, I blurted without thinking, "The ideal is that every family gets what they need and that we don't run out of toys." As I said it, the truth that it was also what God would want, really hit me. Why not pray for the ideal and trust the Lord to provide? If some lie, then that's not our concern, but the Lord's. If many families have a large number of kids, then we have to trust God to multiply what we have to satisfy every family. As the three of us stood there, it quickly sunk in how that was what we were going to do. (Praise God for brothers and sisters in Christ who are like minded and in agreement) We were going to have a planned and organized procedure in place and trust God for the turnout and outcome. We would walk by faith as we had no idea how many would show up or how many children would be needing toys. Either we trusted God or we didn't. We were going to choose trust. Completely.
I'm writing this without knowing what will happen on the 15th and I won't publish it until I find out. Some may think we're naive, even pretty stupid. Some would anticipate all kinds of miserable scenarios (and don't think I haven't). But, when I thought about the ideal and I thought about every family going away with what they needed, it simply felt right. No man-made, flimsy faith, crappy dictating limits were going to be put on JESUS'S BIRTHDAY! Our Savior! And, the more I thought about any kind of joy sucking two gift per family limit, the more my skin crawled. God help us. For real. God help ME!
I can lead, plan and organize. I can inspire. I can write. And, I can make a good roast in my crock pot. But, I am no theologian, teacher, doctor or politician by any stretch. What I do know first hand is the love of God and all that IT has to do with injustice, poverty, shame, fear, restoration and healing. I know that Jesus was not always the most popular or well-liked guy. I know He threw people for a loop. Messed up their ideals and made them scratch their heads. He denounced the authority of religious leaders, touched lepers, healed on the Sabbath, engaged with women, ate with "sinners", forgave people's sins (What? Who is this man who claimed He could forgive sins?!), and He taught about a different kind of fasting that actually involved heart opening love sacrifice and connection. He just changes us, doesn't He? I mean, NOBODY can penetrate our hearts and minds like Jesus!
It is so easy to operate out of fear. We do everything we can to ensure nice and neat and safe and orderly that we lose out big time. We miss the bigger picture.
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I'm happy to report that at our Rapha Chicago Christmas celebration we handed out OVER 360 gifts to the community! It was a beautiful, precious, and celebratory occasion as we honored Jesus. I had forgotten all about this unfinished blog until I saw this draft today, five months later. But, God knew. He knew I needed to be reminded today of His faithfulness to Rapha Chicago AND in my life. It may not have been a monumental decision to trust God like we did with the Christmas gifts. Certainly, we come up against far bigger decisions, but it was still an example of God's faithfulness and the importance of praying and trusting big.
To God be the glory!
