$37.46 is enough for a family of four at Red Robin, but just barely covers an entree at Mickey and Mooch.
$37.46 spots you a few decent tickets at the Bobcats game, but don't plan on it covering your parking and certainly not 2 hot dogs all the way and a coke.
$37.46 would be enough to handle three of my haircuts, but won't style my wife's curls. (Now to be fair here, she would counter with, "I only get one haircut for your three!" Point taken.)
But for one boy, $37.26 meant far more than a night on the town or a couple of caramel macchiatos with an extra shots of espresso.
While sitting in my office this week (that would be the back table at Cafe Mia) a boy who still loves bionicles and doesn't mind when ice cream slips down his chin approached my "desk." He carried a plastic ziplock bag full of every kind of coin and a wad of bills. Sheepishly he looked up at me, dropped the bag in my hand and said simply, "Pastor Brian, this is for the church."
Let's face it, in surburbia, we sneeze and $37.46 flies out of our pockets. It doesn't go very far. That's one tank of gas, one trip to Target, and one family's movie night.
As I wipe away the tears, I can't help but think of another little boy who brought a bag to the disciples. It was all he had, but they probably thought, "2 loaves and 5 fishes - that's won't go far beyond my stomach." Yet in Jesus' hands a sack lunch fed thousands.
Why does $37.46 matter? Because with it Renaissance Bible Church started her ministry. That little bag was our first tithe. We'll never know the little boy's name back in John 6:9 and we won't make it a practice to list someone's name by their contributions, but I can't wait to see what Jesus' does with Nate's ziplock bag.
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3 comments:
That is wonderful. what a gift from such a young boy. what an example. thanks for putting the blog together--we look forward to knowing what is going on.
Hi from Atlanta. We miss you all very much. Thank you for sharing this story with us Brian. It brought me to tears. I too have seen the value of what so little money can do to impact the world for Christ. I was at the National Religious Broadcasters conference the past few days and heard stories about how $10,000 - $12,000 USD can broadcast discipleship materials to entire countries on major television stations in places like Moscow, South America and Northern Africa for a whole year.
Thank you God for Nate and his heart to want to give and for Brian and for what You are going to do through Renaissance Bible Church.
What a heart warming story for all of us to be reminded of what matters to God...another example of how God uses "little" children to communicate a "big" lesson. Brian, thanks for sharing such a beautiful, touching message.
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