For now we're just waiting for an answer.
If it's a no, I will not just keep the money that was already donated
I can either give it back to you,
it can continue to help the Platts with their own expenses
or, it can continue to fund my summer (State Arts-in)
I will contact each of you to see what you would prefer.
Please read this story and pray about it before you decide "to give or not to give"
From Making Jesus Lord by Loren Cunningham, pg. 43, Chapter 4 'Almighty God or the Almighty Dollar'. He's just finished talking about how God wants to use people to help people instead of always sending ravens to everyone in need. Here is the text from the book:
You may have a desire in your heart to give, but are continually frustrated when you hear of financial needs. Every day may bring missionary newsletters to your door, each presenting legitimate needs. How can you know to whom to give and how much? I believe the only key to this frustration is to listen to the voice of the Lord in your giving – give out of obedience to Him, not out of your emotion. A story from some close friends of mine will show what I mean.
A number of years ago, a group of young people was leaving for southern California on a YWAM outreach to Hawaii. My friends, Jim and Joy Dawson, are among the most spiritually-attuned people I know. They had gone to the Los Angeles Airport to see the youth off because their son and daughter were part of the team. When they walked in, they found two – Steve and Verna – sitting forlornly in the terminal. This pair was on the list of those who were to leave, but Joy found out they didn't have enough money to buy their tickets – they were each $100 short (in the 1970's).
Both Steve and Vera felt God was telling them to go on this mission venture and had come with their bags packed as an act of faith and obedience.
Joy prayed with her husband – though they had already given several hundred dollars to others leaving on this team, they were willing to give to these two if God directed them to do so. As the Dawsons bowed their heads int eh terminal, they asked the Lord if they were to give more.
The Lord impressed both of them, however, that they were not to give. The words that Joy received in her mind were, You've done your part. I want to provide for these two through someone else.
There was nothing to do but stand back and let the drama unfold. They watched the clock. The flight was due to leave at 6:00 P.M. And there were only minutes left.
Then a voice came over the P.A. System.
“Western Airlines, flight #771 leaving for Honolulu, now boarding at Gate 63”
The group minus Steve and Verna, filed down the jet bridge. Six o'clock came and passed. Yet Jim and Joy watched through the airport's smoked-glass windows as the big plane sat unmoving. Why weren't they leaving? The uniformed airline agent still stood behind a desk at the gate, the empty jet bridge yawning at his back. No voice came over the P.A. To explain the delay.
Jim looked at his watch. It was now 6:15.
Just then, a young YWAMer, Clay Golliher, came rushing into the terminal. He was panting, his face damp and red. “Has the plane left for Hawaii?” he gasped. “God told me to give some money to the team leaving for Hawaii.” He nodded to Steve and Vera “Do you need some money?”
“Yes,” Steve said. “We each need $100.”
Clay reached into his pocket and pulled out a white envelope. “Then I guess this is for you two!”
Steve and Verna thanked him, grabbed the money and ran to the airline personnel. At first they refused them. It was too late, there were told. Everyone else was on the plane and besides, it was already past the departure time!
Jim Dawson got into the act, persuading the officials to bend a little and let the two young people join their friends on the plane.
“They're going on a missionary trip,” Jim offered.
Finally the airline people gave in. Tickets were hastily written out and Steve and Verna ran down the jet bridge, carrying their suitcases on board with them.
Clay, Jim and Joy watched as the big plane slowly pulled away. Then they heard Clay's side of the story.
Clay had been in another part of L.A. that afternoon, at the Philippine Consulate, getting a visa for his own missionary trip. As he crossed the marble lobby to leave, God's voice came clearly into his mind, You don't need that extra spending money you have for your trip.
The Lord impressed him that he was to give it to the team leaving for Hawaii that evening. He looked at a clock on the wall of the office building—2:30!—and he knew the group was leaving at 6:00. He rushed out of the building and began looking for a bus. He hopped aboard and slowly made his way across L.A. in fits and starts. Finally, he was deposited on Foothill Boulevard in Sunland, one block away from the YWAM Center.
Clay ran to the building, but his heart sank at the sight of the empty parking lot. There was one car, however. The doors the the center were all locked, but he went around banging on the side doors, the front and back doors. A boy came to the door dripping wet. He had been in the shower. He told Clay the Hawaii team had left and hour before. At Clay's urging, the boy dressed and the two got into the car and headed for the airport, fighting the L.A. rush hour traffic on the freeways. At last, they arrived at the curb in front of the terminal—well after the flight's departure time.
Clay stopped his story and began to laugh with Jim and Joy. There were so many improbable incidents in his account: a bus just at the right time in a city known for its lack of buses; one lone guy left behind, taking a shower, who happened to have a car; the unexplained delay of the plane until Clay got there. How much they would have missed, they all agreed, if Jim and Joy had reacted out of their emotions and given the money to the two.
So many times we miss the excitement of giving because we don't listen to the Lord and obey Him.
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