Wednesday, September 20, 2006
A New Set of Tires in the Mail
Another testimony to just how awesome our God is!
Okay, so living on a missionary budget, which is an oxymoron, we never know how to think about expenses like tires for our Explorer. We bought our Explorer with 45,000 miles and have had the same set of tires since we bought it. We now have 118,000 miles. For the last month and a half we have had a slow to moderate leak in the left rear tire which had us going to fill it up with air before we drove anywhere! Needless to say we needed new tires. This has been on our radar, but we never had the money.
Last Thursday, we were paying bills. Jennifer looked at me, and after paying the tithe, we had just enough to pay the bills. The choice always of course, is whether to pay the tithe or set it aside for later. I say it is a choice, because it is a choice to be obedient. I looked at Jennifer and said, "I guess we don't need new tires today."
In the mail that day came a letter. Inside was a note from a woman who told us she had been visiting a church I had spoken at a month ago. She was moved by our testimony and wanted to bless us with a gift. The gift was $600. As we read the note and looked at the amount of the check, I looked at Jennifer and with a grateful smile said, "I guess God wants us to have new tires after all."
Could we have used the money for something else? Sure. But after living seven months at the hand of God, relying on daily bread, you begin to recognize the beauty of God's good and timely gifts. There was no doubt for either of us that we had just received a set of new tires in the mail.
Okay, so living on a missionary budget, which is an oxymoron, we never know how to think about expenses like tires for our Explorer. We bought our Explorer with 45,000 miles and have had the same set of tires since we bought it. We now have 118,000 miles. For the last month and a half we have had a slow to moderate leak in the left rear tire which had us going to fill it up with air before we drove anywhere! Needless to say we needed new tires. This has been on our radar, but we never had the money.
Last Thursday, we were paying bills. Jennifer looked at me, and after paying the tithe, we had just enough to pay the bills. The choice always of course, is whether to pay the tithe or set it aside for later. I say it is a choice, because it is a choice to be obedient. I looked at Jennifer and said, "I guess we don't need new tires today."
In the mail that day came a letter. Inside was a note from a woman who told us she had been visiting a church I had spoken at a month ago. She was moved by our testimony and wanted to bless us with a gift. The gift was $600. As we read the note and looked at the amount of the check, I looked at Jennifer and with a grateful smile said, "I guess God wants us to have new tires after all."
Could we have used the money for something else? Sure. But after living seven months at the hand of God, relying on daily bread, you begin to recognize the beauty of God's good and timely gifts. There was no doubt for either of us that we had just received a set of new tires in the mail.
