God Provides

I have never really been one to trust in God's provision. I know. I know. That sounds awful. I believe in it and when I look back over the last few years of my life I can definitely see that God has been working out some cool things. But to trust in it? I mean really trust in it? To wholeheartedly believe that there is no way apart from God for something to happen and actually believe that He will do it? Sure, I believe in that for salvation. But to believe that God actually takes care of physical needs? I can't say I've ever really been to that point. Until now.

This blog has been an amazing opportunity for us to share our thoughts on trying to live as Jesus did, our prayers, our needs, our day to day life, etc. But over the past week God has really outdone himself. Twice in the past week we have been given large checks. We have been praying for God's provision and to really see the Christian community at work and we have seen it! We really struggled with Israel and whether or not God wanted us to go. We knew that we needed to go somewhere and do something, but weren't quite sure what it was. We signed up for Israel knowing that if God wanted us to go then He would provide the money. The money wasn't there and we took that as a sign that God did not want us to go. But then we had a few days of soul searching. We are willing to be used and open to what God lays before us. Why is He not using us? If he owns the cattle on a thousand hills why could He not come up with $7000 for us to go to Israel? Maybe He doesn't want to use us. Maybe we misread His intentions...

I think that God is preparing us. I don't think we're ready now for whatever God is calling us for, but He is shaping us and molding us into the people we need to be (more on this in a later blog). How do I know that God has not forsaken us and still has a plan, even though the funds for Israel weren't there? We have been struggling with bills this summer. With me not teaching until August and Shauna getting laid off we didn't have the money that we needed and we had to trust God. God has given us more in the past week through generous friends, extra students, etc., than we were able to raise for Israel! But maybe you're reading into things Shane. Can  you really discern all of that about God just because of money?

The money is a side factor. It really is. There are a million ways that God could have taken care of our bills this summer. Should I put stock in myself? I've had more summer students than ever! And I picked up a side job at a warehouse downtown three days a week! But we were still left needing. God choose to take care of us by leaving us to depend on Him and others. It's a very uncomfortable place to be, but God has shown me much in a very short period of time. 

Here are a few highlights:

1) We are SO unworthy of all of this. I look at people that are needier than we are. I see people that love God more than we do. I hear of people that are serving God more than we ever dreamed. Yet God is taking care of us. People are choosing to support us. There's no way to explain people giving a flip about Shauna and I except for God. We're just normal people trying to figure out what it means to follow God and love people. And honestly? We stink at it. But we press onward knowing that for some reason God is keeping our heads above water.

2) We have been very flippant with our money in the past. Our flippancy (wow spellcheck didn't pick that up, I guess it really is a word!) with our money has not caused our current status, but being where we currently are and looking carefully about how our money has been spent has really gotten us thinking. We horde stuff and spend money on stupid things. We're not alone. You probably do it too. But we're rethinking that. We're starting to sell off a lot of our stuff (starting with DVDs, Musical Stuff, and my car) and making sure that we are wise about future purchases. 

3) We are also thinking about our income, especially after seeing people give away their money to support us. This is what we are called to do. We are fighting hard to get our bills down and increase our incomes not so that we can have more, but so we can give more. We are saving lots of money on food because Shauna is cooking every day. We've cut out superfluous spending. We're selling things to pay off our debts. Why? Because we believe that we have been given much so that we can give to others. But wait a minute.  You don't have anything right now. You're depending on God for your bills. Exactly. We are trusting that God has brought us here to show us something and that He will lead us out of it stronger and more fully equipped to bring glory to Him.

 

So to those who haven given and prayed for us, we thank you. God has used you to meet our physical needs. But more than that, He has used you in ways that go far beyond the physical needs that we have. He has used you to be an example to us as to what we are supposed to be and what loving God looks like. We pray that we can be examples to others in this way. 

-shane

P.S. Feel free to leave comments on our blogs!

Christian Ignorance

So, i was having a conversation on facebook this evening about God, theology, philosophy...you know, all the fun stuff. Towards the end of it I realized what I was really up against: Christian Ignorance. No, the people I was talking to weren't ignorant. But, I think they may have thought that I was. Not because of anything I said. Simply because I am a follower of Christ. Which made me think...what the heck is wrong with us?

I think that most Christians today are viewed as shallow, ignorant, stubborn. Honestly? I agree with the view. Two things should jump out of that list: ignorant and stubborn. We are very certain today about the very little that we know and will argue to the death thinking that we are somehow furthering the cause of Christ. I can't be certain, but sometimes I think that biblical illiteracy is higher now than it was in the dark ages before the reformation. When did blind faith become such a highly regarded token of Christendom? I think the church fathers and reformers would shudder at the vast amount of knowledge that is available to American Christians and the small amount of Bible and Theology that the average Christian knows. 

In a desperate attempt to 'win as many souls for Christ' as we could, we watered down the Gospel to a point where it consists of a simple prayer and trusting in Jesus. What about repentance? What about surrender? This goes from children's ministry to Sr. ministry to worship services. We are afraid to offend people and we are afraid to turn people away. The amazing thing about the gospel and the cross is that it is both beautiful and offensive. And it MUST be both. Have we forgotten Luke 18 and the rich young ruler? Jesus cared enough about the man to tell him the Truth and not alter the truth to 'win him to the kingdom'. Imagine the good that an energetic, rich, religious ruler could have done for Jesus' cause! We often think in similar terms. May we speak the Truth as Jesus has, not to turn people away but to show them true love. 

So, what do we do? I think we have to make Christianity hard again. And by hard I mean Biblical. Jesus has some very bold commands about being a Christian and being a disciple. We have regarded these as optional. What happened to, "Deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me."? I think that we must challenge people with these hard truths about surrender and repentance. I think that people are looking to be pushed for something deeper. I know that our youth culture is. Won't we lose and offend people? Yep. Jesus did.

-shane

Christian Community

God has given each of us gifts. Some are teachers. Some evangelists. Some have the gift of hospitality. Some are leaders. These are spiritual gifts. We use these in Christian community to edify other believers and glorify God. But what about our other gifts? What if we used those to build up people and glorify God. 

I've had this thought for a long time, and I couldn't sleep tonight because it popped back into my head. This isn't original. At least, I don't think it is. Here's the concept. Each of us has certain talents and abilities. REAL, practical talents and abilities. Here's an example using fictional characters:

Bill is a mechanic. 

Susan cuts hair. 

Frank is a carpenter and general handyman. 

Jill is an excellent cook. 

Laura can sew. 

Brian is good for some manual labor. 

Etc, etc....

So, what if we start using these talents to help each other out? What if Laura's car breaks down? Bill helps her out. Frank needs a haircut. Susan steps in to save the day. Bill needs his backyard cleared out and a fence built. Frank and Brian tag team and get the job done.

You can think of it sort of like a huge barter system if you like. The idea is that everyone has something tangible to contribute and through these tangible contributions we can meet a lot of the needs that we have and help each other out. But what if we take it a step farther?

Luke is an elderly man that can no longer take care of his yard. Brian and a few other guys come to help him out. Luke has nothing to offer, but we are able to meet his needs just to show him the love of Christ and that people actually care in this world in a real, tangible way. Jesus often met peoples physical needs before addressing their spiritual needs. Why do we so often try to shove the gospel down people's throats while they are hurting with physical needs?

So here is my proposal: I would like to try to put together some sort of community. A list of people that are willing to help each other out. After we get a list of people willing to help, we can start to compile a list of needs (both within our community and outward). If you would be willing to try something like this, please let me know! Leave a comment here or email us at shaneandshauna@ymail.com. Once it gets going I'll composite some sort of listing or website and we can all get together for some food and hang out.

Shauna and I will start. Shauna may add some stuff later, but we can:

-Cook, Bake

-Clean (inside homes, yardwork, etc.)

-manual labor (any sort of work that doesn't require a 'specialty')

-teach music 

-teach bible/theology

-organization (filing, sorting through things..)

I really hope that this takes off and that we can be used. I think one of the cries of our generation is a need to be used and to be a part of something bigger than yourself. I don't think we are as selfish and self-centered as most parts of this culture would lead us to believe. We want to make a change. Make a difference. Help people and do something different. Looking forward to seeing where this goes!

-shane

We spent the majority of last week fasting and praying over Israel, our finances, and life in general. I'm not sure if it's just part of being in your twenties or if we're at some odd point in our lives right now, but we constantly find ourselves questioning everything about our lives and trying to decide if there is more out there. We've been married for two years and we've still got a lot to figure out about life. Although we didn't accomplish all that I had hoped through fasting/praying, we did come a long way. I had hoped for us to draw closer to God and for this to be some, big pivotal moment in our lives. It wasn't, but Shauna started journaling her prayers and I've prayed more than I've prayed in a long time. We also drew closer together through this united effort and have begun to break a long running food addiction. So, did we accomplish everything we hoped? Nope. But here are some things that did happen:

1) We prayed for God to make it clear whether or not we are supposed to go to Israel. Specifically, we prayed for $3000 in our e3 account by today. We knew that this was an impossibly big number and that only God could bring about something that colossal. We did not receive $3000 in our account, but we got an email from an e3 staff member on Thursday that provided us a way out of the trip. So, we have decided to postpone our trip. We do not know where or when we are going, but the money that was donated is in an e3 account with our name on it to be used for a future trip. Our friend, Robert Hope, is leading e3 trips every few months so we are looking forward to partnering with him in the future. 

2) We paid our July rent. This may seem like a given for some people, but money has been tight here. With Shauna not working and summer lessons being so flexible, for the first time we have found ourselves worrying about our bills. We honestly didn't have the money for rent yet, somehow, it turned up. While we appreciate the people that donated through this blog, your donations are going to our e3 account and not our bills. Money is going to be tight until mid-August when teaching picks back up, but we are learning a lot by having to trust God for the money. 

3) I (shane) have been listening to a lot of David Platt sermons via podcast lately. (What else am I going to do in a warehouse all day?) I've really been convicted of a lot of things, but our finances have been one of them. We don't live lavish lives. We don't have a big house, fancy cars, or really nice things. All in all we lead a pretty simple live. But as I started looking around at how much surplus we have and don't use, I have really been convicted as to how we spend our money and the resources that God has entrusted to us. For one, we have decided to set a cap on our income and give the rest of it away. For instance, if we decide that we can live on $3000 per month then we will live on $36,000/year. Anything over that will be given away. One thing that is hindering us in this is our debts. We were really good about credit cards for a long time, but through it all away over a few dumb purchases of things that we 'needed'. So, we decided to start selling off things to pay off our debt and free up our finances. In the near future, we plan to sell my (shane) car, our Wii, a bunch of DVD/VHS, guitars, music gear, clothes, etc. We have decided to live simply and not live above our means. To roughly paraphrase Platt, maybe God has given us unsurpassed wealth in this country not to lead lavish life styles but to lead the world in unsurpassed giving. You can expect to hear more from us about this.

4) It is hard to have a relationship with God. It really takes work! Like I said earlier, I'm not sure if this is part of being in your twenties or something bigger, but I'm really not satisfied with the nominal Christianity that I see and live. I want something different. I want something real. We don't really know what that looks like, but we're working to figure it out. From talking to various people, I know that we aren't alone in this pursuit. Somewhere buried under all the WWJD bracelets and Christian self-help books is a real God and we are looking for Him. We struggle and fall a lot more than we succeed, but I hope that forward motion and desire counts for something. Lately it feels like we're constantly on the verge of something, but never quite there.

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We got some slack from a few people about 'panhandling' and asking for money through our previous blogs. Let me clear something up. This is a blog. The goal is for us to tell whoever is listening about what is going on in our lives. Right now, this is what is going on in our lives. We are trying to figure life out the best that we can. Part of missions is raising support and building a team of people that believe in what you are doing, whether they support you financially or not. A blog has been a great way to keep people updated on that. Our lives are dedicated to ministry and missions and we're still trying to figure out exactly how that works and what that looks like. I make no apologies for asking people to support (through finances, prayer, or otherwise) our ministry efforts if they believe in what we are doing. As for our bills, we are being honest about where we are right now. We aren't looking for handouts. We work hard and support other friends and missionaries. One of the things I have been really considering, thinking, and praying about is community. Somehow we have lost that over the past few years and everyone is looking out for numero uno. As Christians we cannot live this way and say that we are following Christ. We are united. 

The moral? Support us. Don't support us. Doesn't matter. But support SOMETHING. Believe in something bigger than yourself. Believe that maybe there is something more important than what's in your checking account, what kind of car you drive, and how big your house is. As we begin looking into our finances more we will update you with some ministries, missionaries, and people we feel are worth supporting. Right now, check out Robert Hope. He and his family are missionaries with e3 and we are proud to support them. He was in our wedding and I've been in a band with him for a few years. He's a gifted musician and worship leader and a great speaker and youth pastor. God is definitely using him and his family. I believe in him and what he and his family are doing: http://big-berto.blogspot.com/

-shane

Day 3: Seeking God's direction

Today is the final day of our fast. On Tuesday, we prayed that God would provide for our finances. Our income this month is significantly less than our bills, so we begged (and are still asking) God to provide the funds to pay our bills. We asked God to provide us with $900 in our checking account to pay rent today, and He did! Shane is also expecting a check today from one of his students, which will go towards our car payment. We still need another $150 to pay our car bill, and money to pay our utilities, debt, and rent for August. We were convicted yesterday by the amount of stuff we have around our house that isn't what we need or use, but is worth money. We decided we are going to go through everything, and sell what we don't need and give it to "the poor". We are asking God to give us what we need, and that we would be willing to give away whatever extra income He provides. 

Yesterday, we sought God about our mission trip to Israel. We asked Him to make it known to us if we are to go. By doing so, we asked Him to provide us with $3000 in our E3 account by Sunday. Shane has been talking with the Administrative Assistant with E3 about that what if's. We were freaked out a couple of weeks ago because she said whatever money we didn't raise, we would have to give her a credit card to pay for the remainder of the trip. Well, at that point we only had $500 in our account and we need just under $8000! Yesterday, she emailed us saying that she could get a refund for our tickets already purchased, if we cancelled with her today. I emailed her back asking for her to wait until Monday for my response so we can see if anything happens between now and then. The good thing about E3 though is if you back out of a trip, whatever funds you have raised can be used for another E3 trip that year. So, we are praying that God would make CLEAR to us if we are to leave for Israel in three weeks. If not, we are asking Him to show us which mission trip we are to go on. There is also another team going to Israel this time next year that we could possibly join. Please pray that God would show us what to do! I have to admit that I am pretty discouraged by the thought of not going to Israel this year. Shane and I tried to go on a different mission trip to Mexico last year, but also didn't raise enough funds. The real crappy part of that is we had to call everyone that did give and ask if they wanted us to mail their checks back or destroy them. Those that wrote us checks for Mexico have not supported us for Israel. What will that mean for the next mission trip we try to go on? 

Today, we are praying for God's direction in our lives. We had discussed the possibility of becoming missionaries, but really don't know what God wants. We both went to Bible College because we knew we wanted to devote our lives to ministry. We do know that being at Hunter Street Baptist is where God wants us right now, but with it being such a HUGE church, we are having difficulty fitting in. Shane is set up and doing well leading worship for Route 56, but I haven't found my place there yet. We are praying that we would find the right Sunday School class, and be able to minister there together. We are also seeking to get more involved with the kids in Route 56. On another note, I am no longer working, and Shane is teaching private lessons full time. Shane and I both desire for me to be a stay at home mom, but we weren't planning that for another year or two. We are asking God to show me what I am to do in the meantime. I do enjoy being the Betty Crocker wife, and my spiritual gift is Hospitality, so we are praying I find more opportunities to use that. Shane just needs to know what he is to become. He is taking classes with Berkley and Liberty University this year, seeking out a Master's in Theological Studies or Worship Ministries. With Berkley, he is taking classes to make him a better teacher. We just need to be comfortable with where God has us right now, and that He will direct us and form us into whom He wants us to be. 

Please continue to pray for us. If you wish to donate for our trip or toward or July bills, you can click on the "donate" button on the right, enter the amount, your credit card number, and submit. We are very thankful and grateful to those of you whom have given to us already. Thank you for loving us, your support, and prayers. May God bless you have you have blessed us. 

Day 2 of Fasting and Praying...

To recap, Shane and I fasted yesterday over our finances. We asked God to provide us with $900 in our checking account tomorrow for rent, and $3000 in our E3 account by Sunday for Israel. Last night we received a check for $100 for Israel, and $20 for our bills. Praise God! 

Today we are praying that God would make it clear if we are to go to Israel. We want Him to either make that door WIDE open, or SLAM it shut! I'm feeling like He wants us to go, since we received more money for it yesterday, so we are planning a couple of fundraisers. I am going to throw a tea party in Mid July. I'm not sure if I will be charging a certain amount at the door, or will just ask for donations, but if I could get 60 women in my home (I have enough room for all the tables) to pay $10 each, there's $600! Shane is doing a fundraiser for men and its going to be a poker tournament. We were thinking we would have everyone start off playing in groups of four, and the winner of each table plays in the final round. We were going to charge $10 or $15 per person to play, which would all go to our trip. We will have a gift card at the end for the winner. 

Either way, we need God to confirm we are going to Israel, and He is going to have to provide the money. Shane and I don't even have enough to pay our bills, so if we meet our goal, it will only be because of God, and Him working through you all. 

Please continue to pray for our finances and Israel. Pray we would have $900 in our account by Thursday to pay for rent, and that God would provide the money needed to pay the rest of our bills, as well as provide us with gas and groceries. Please also pray with us that we would have $3000 (half of the money needed) in our E3 account for Israel by Sunday.

If  you would like to make a donation toward Israel or our bills, you can click on the paypal link on your right, enter the amount you wish to donate, credit card number, and hit submit. If you would like to mail us a check, our address is: 

421 Mid Ridge Lane

Pelham, AL 35124

Thank you all again for your continued prayers and support!