January Giving
January - My first month proved to be easier than I thought due to the earthquake in Haiti.
My husband travels frequently for business and we always said when the kids started moving out, I'd take the opportunity to go with him as often as possible. I mean hey, his travel expenses are paid for and he keeps his frequent flyer miles, which means a super cheap little trip for me! We've taken advantage of this on a few memorable occasions, such a trade-show in Orlando where I got to meet a customer of his (Chuck Chavez) and his wife (Kim Chavez). These guys are alot of fun and we had a great time together. Later that evening, my husband and I danced the night away with some of his other customers in "Pleasure Island" and it was just an all-around fun trip. Come to find out that Chuck and Kim are both fans of Sex and the City, which my husband and I also love to watch - despite what my husband tells you. He's a closet fan and will likely deny it if you ask him so just take my word for it and leave it at that. Kim totally gave away the ending of the whole series during one of our conversations but I forgive her. I kinda' saw it coming anyhow.
A few weeks ago, Jeff had the opportunity to fly out to San Diego for another trade show and this time, I decided I would go along for an extended weekend. We had recently returned from a weekend in Key West to celebrate my birthday where we were granted the opportunity to celebrate RECORD LOW temperatures for which we (and everyone else in Key West) were completely unprepared. So hey! Why not take a shot at redemption in a locale which promised better weather? We planned to purchase my airline ticket which was actually pretty cheap (less than $200) and stay an extra night at the hotel ($unknown). Other expenses would include food and beverages, which somehow always seems to cost a whole lot more than we think it will.
One night, as we sat in front of the TV watching images of Haiti and my husband was researching options for the trip, I started feeling a bit guilty and selfish. I turned to my husband and said "Maybe we should skip this trip and donate the money we were planning to spend to the relief efforts in Haiti." Yes, it's more than the $100 we had planned to budget for the project each month, but somehow it felt like the right thing to do. After only a modest display of groaning and complaining about how much FUN it would be in San Diego, we both agreed without too much reluctance that this was a far more appropriate way to use the financial blessings God has given us.
Shortly thereafter, one of my running buddies posted this message on FaceBook:
www.missionaryflights.orgI can strongly suggest MFI as a place where your donation will make a difference in Haiti. You can donate on-line. Check out their web site to see updates on what they are doing. All staff are either volunteers or missionaries who raise their own support. Your donation can be marked to go directly to the relief in Haiti… like putting fuel in the airplanes. Your donation will not be squandered, wasted, or lost to a bureaucracy. They need your donation right now. Go ahead. You can do it. J
I know Dave and if he says this is a class organization, I believe him. After some quick, unscientific, and largely speculative calculations, I settled on an estimated San Diego trip cost of $400.00 which I promptly pledged to missionaryflights.org.
Ok, so how do I feel about it? Fine, I guess. Do I feel a sense of overwhelming goodness? Not especially. It’s a cool thing, mind you, but it was more an avoidance of guilt than anything. Taking that trip anyways knowing that the money was needed badly for relief efforts would have left me feeling yucky, for lack of a better word. I suspect that future installments to the Giving Project will be more challenging to discern. I may never encounter a sense of overwhelming goodness, but the point is to go where I feel led and let God deal with the outcome.
The Giving Project
OK, so I haven't updated my blog in over a month. I blame... something or someone else but give me time to think about it. I also failed to go to my one-month follow-up eye appointment after my Lasik but I'll take full responsibility for that one. So, let's get caught up to speed, shall we?
After the Incident of the Prophetic Turkey, I learned that my church was offering "The Twelve Outreaches of Christmas." Twelve different outreach opportunities to try - something for everyone as it were. Like getting up early? Try the "Black Friday" outreach. Head over to the retailers where people are standing in line waiting to get in, and pass out hot chocolate. Like babysitting? Try the outreach providing free child care to families with disabled children so Mom and Dad can get out and do some Christmas shopping together. Like random acts of kindness? Try putting together a Christmas basket and delivering it to some random person in your neighborhood while caroling. As for me? I was gung-ho about the "Christmas Tree Giveaway."
The gist of the Christmas Tree Giveaway was that the church would be setting up several small tree lots around town. When people showed up and picked out the tree, they discovered the tree was free (hence the label "giveaway"). How cool is that? I loved this idea. I couldn't wait to show up. I couldn't wait to show people God's love in a practical way. You can't earn God's love, it's just yours for the taking. We don't deserve it, we just receive it. You don't pay for it, you just get it for free. Here, take this tree and remember that He is willing to give you eternal salvation if you'll just agree to take it.
Procrastination is not my friend. By the time I got around to visiting the website to sign up for the Christmas tree outreach, all of the volunteer opportunities were filled. Well, except for the "Meet at the church and help us load the Christmas trees onto the trucks" slots but there are a host of reasons why that was not something I was interested in. Including sweating, wearing work gloves, and getting pricked in the fact with pine needles. So again, like the time we showed up too late for the prophetic turkey thing, I was deflated and felt that I was not able to serve in the way I wanted to serve.
Something funny happened (again) during church that week. I realized "I don't need the church to organize an outreach for me! I can do my OWN outreach! There is no reason why I couldn't, say, go to a tree lot and buy someone's tree for them!" And the more I thought about it, the more an idea formed in my head.
At this point, if you are my church pastor, you may ask yourself why I wasn't listening to the uber-powerful message being given that morning. But I can assure you, I was. The outreach idea only formed during the pauses. Busy morning for my brain.
Here is the idea that came to me: I decided to allocate $100/month, above and beyond our current tithe and charitable giving, to a "Giving Project." The plan is that each month during 2010, I would give away $100 in whatever way and to whatever person/organization/cause that I felt God was leading me to. After the Incident of the Prophetic Turkey, I realize that I may really not be terribly clear on this and I may never feel that sense of fulfilling God's purpose or calling, but I'm willing to give it a shot. The hardest part is really that whole "listening to God" thing, but that's actually the point of the exercise.
I have two goals for this project: 1) learn how to go where God leads me (which means learning how to really HEAR Him), and 2) develop a more generous spirit. Both of these present significant obstacles as by nature I often lean towards glorifying myself rather than glorifying God. For this reason, I suspect God may very well hide from me the outcome of my generosity lest I become prideful and boastful. But I'm up for the challenge. Today is January 31st and I did find a way to give this past month. However, seeing as how I had to take all this time just outlining the project - more evidence that procrastination is not my friend - I'll have to tell you about the January giving another time.
Let this serve as a lesson to me to update my blog more regularly.
Labels: charity, church, generosity, giving
The Prophetic Turkey (aka "Where It Began")
Earlier this year, I began feeling a stirring in my heart telling me that I needed to be more generous. I certainly don't feel
stingy by any means, but something has been pushing me to give more. Give more WHAT was not clear to me. My husband and I both give financially in a way that makes us feel good about it. We tithe roughly 10% of our salaries and bonuses, we are putting away a substantial amount each month for college tuition, we are paying 1/2 of my mother-in-law's mortgage and allowing her to live in the house rent free, and beyond our monthly tithe, we also donate monthly to three different Christian radio stations. Periodically through the year, we give to various charities or organizations that call upon us - although admittedly we say NO to the solicitations more often than we say yes. We buy from every school kid that comes to the door selling something, whether it's a magazine subscription, candy, wrapping paper, or cardboard boxes. OK, we've never had anyone try to sell us cardboard but if they did, we'd probably buy. We put money in the Salvation Army kettles, buy popcorn from the Boy Scouts and cookies from the Girl Scouts outside the local supermarket, and donate our used clothing and household items rather than holding a garage sale. Twice recently, I've anonymously paid for the meal of the person behind me in the drive through at Chick-Fil-A and yet.... somehow this was not satisfying my need to be generous.
This November, our church held their annual "Turkey Fest" where members of the church family bring turkey dinners to families in need. But THIS year? Something new and exciting was offered - the "Prophetic Turkey" option! The gist of this was basically to show up at the church, attend a little exercise about how to hear from God, and let God lead you to someone to deliver the turkey dinner as opposed to picking up a pre-printed name and address. This sounded SO cool! As this was announced in church, I jabbed my husband in the rib cage and said "I totally want to do this!" He was not similarly affected, but whatever.
On the day of the Turkey Fest, we encountered some logistical problems and could not be at the church at the designated time. I figured hey, God stirred this up in me, he'll find a way to work it out. I grabbed my box full of turkey and dinner, wrote "Every good and perfect thing comes from God" on the side in black marker, and headed out about 2 hours later for the "second wave" of deliveries. My heart sank when we were told that the Prophetic Turkeys were all gone and that the Hearing from God session had concluded hours ago. I deflated in front of my husbands eyes. Several people (including my husband) said "you don't need a CLASS to hear from God. Just go out into your car, pray about it, and let God work out the rest." No, I need a class. I am totally new to this. How do I know if it's GOD saying "That guy over there!" or me saying "Let's just give it to that guy and be done with it." I was so bummed but walked sadly back out to my car where my own un-prophetic turkey and dinner was waiting in a lonely box.
As we drove to another part of town, it occurred to me that the direction we were heading was near an apartment complex where I lived in my very very early 20s with my first husband. That complex has since become Section 8 (welfare) housing and it occurred to me that there were probably lots of families in that area in need of a free turkey dinner. I directed my husband to the area and pointed out both my first and second apartments - both in the same complex. After driving around for a bit, I said "why don't we say we'll just give it to the first person we see wearing red?" See what I mean about needing a CLASS for this? First person wearing red. Pft. What a cop out.
We drove back to the townhouse I rented when my daughter was born and my husband suggested I knock on that door and give it to them. We debated about who to give it to when my husband pointed to a woman standing in the back of a pick up truck cleaning it out and said "Why don't you see if she needs one?" Was this God leading HIM? I doubt it. I think he was creeped out by this part of town and just wanted to leave. But, I got out of the car and asked her if she needed a turkey. As it turns out, she was visiting from out of town, but suggested I ask the woman she was visiting. Her name was Keisha. I knocked on the door and was greeted by "COME IN!" (and a rather intimidating "come in" at that).
Sparing unnecessary details, I'll tell you that Keisha seemed pretty wigged out when I walked into her house and wanted to know who I was and what I wanted. But she was downright giddy when we told her we had a turkey dinner for her, if she needed it. She freaked out when she saw that we had a whole box of food for her - turkey, gravy, potatoes, stuffing, green beans, cookies, cake mix, so much stuff it almost didn't all fit in the box. We asked her if she wanted prayer for anything and she told us she was really struggling financially. No surprise there... this is Section 8 housing in the middle of a recession. She offered to let us pray for her right there in the parking lot so we put our hands on her and prayed for her - it was really kind of cool. She went back into the house and we drove off.
Did God lead us to Keisha? Or did was she just convenient? I don't have the answer for that. Is Keisha a drug addict? An alcoholic? Does she even know God? Does she pray? But really... does it matter? I did what I felt I should do and gave the turkey dinner to someone who appeared to appreciate it. And even if she DIDN'T appreciate it, that's really not the point of discipline. It wasn't supposed to be about me or about my ideas of who is worthy or who deserved it. It was supposed to be about going out in faith. Which I did. It's up to God to work out the rest of it with Keisha.
But interestingly... that girl in the pickup truck that we approached? Keisha's friend? She had a bold streak of bright red hair on her head. So, we did give it to the first person in red after all. I know, I'm probably stretching to find meaning in this, but again - this is why I need a class.
The Giving Challenge
Cool things are happening for me. For about the past year or more, I've really been pleading with God to USE me somehow. I've been willing, but nothing has materialized. Recently, through a series of events, I've had a chance to really up the ante, so to speak, and things started happening right away.
To start with , my pastor gave a message about being "all in" referring in part to the apostles in Acts, and in part to our willingness to go "all in" for the church. As he talked about the committments asked of those who want to be shareholders, I thought the same thing I thought last time a similar message was given. That was "I'd like to be there, but I am not quite there yet." But a funny thing happened during that message. In essence, I realized what I NEEDED to say instead was "I'd like to be there, so that is the direction I am going to start heading." Quite a different mindsent! One "I'd like to be there" was an inactive approach, the other was an active approach. Same words, different meanings. I was fired up.
Since that time, I've had a few opportunities to serve that really got me excited. And now, I'm feeling led to embark on a "Giving Challenge" which will take place over the next 12 months. I want to blog about the experience for two good reasons: (1) as a method of accountability; and (2) in hopes that others who might read about the experience may be motivated to try a similar challenge in their own lives. At this moment, I'm struggling with how to do this in a way that doesn't make this about me and my blog. So for now, I'll start blogging and see if I can't figure out a way to keep this a God thing without keeping it in the shadows. In future posts, I'll talk about the two recent outreach opportunities that sort of set me up for this challege.
- Kim
So today I found a cool new website called "43 Things." The idea behind it is to identify goals for yourself and post them on this website. You can find other people with similar goals or from others who have accomplished the same thing. You can post and read messages about the goal and check it off your list once you've accomplished it. Most people might not think it is necessary, but I thought it was fun. I've only identified 4 goals so far, but one of them was to update my blog regularly so.... here I am. My goals so far are: (1) to lose the weight I gained on vacation by August 1, 2007 (more on my vacation in a later entry), (2) to finally get the curtains made for my kitchen/breakfast area, (3) update my blog regularly, and (4) run a marathon in all 50 states.
Since updating my blog is one of my goals, I'll be back later this week to write all about my fantastic vacation in Bahamian paradise!
50 State Club progess
OK, well I skipped my blog update for March. Shame on me, but I am still doing well overall for 2007!
I decided last year to make it a goal to run a marathon in all 50 states before I turn 50. How many have I run, you ask? How many states do I have, you want to know? Well, my dear curious friend, that is the purpose of this blog. Every time someone asks, I have to stop and run down the list in my head. What's worse is that I can only give a ball park for my finishing times in each race. So, here is where I am going to compile an "as of now" list. Here we go, from first to last:
09/18/04 - Airforce Marathon - Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton,
OH - 5:37:37
10/10/04 - Chicago Marathon - Chicago,
IL - 5:20:21
04/09/06 - St. Louis Marathon - St. Louis,
MO - 4:50:28
05/07/06 - Flying Pig Marathon - Cincinnati, OH (duplicate state) - 4:51:37
10/01/06 - Lakefront Marathon - Milwaukee,
WI - 4:36:19 (Personal Record!)
10/29/06 - Marine Corps Marathon - Arlington,
VA - 5:02:36
03/25/07 - Georgia Marathon - Atlanta,
GA - 5:22:07
So, there you have it. 7 marathons to date, 6 states. And on the horizon? The Country Music Marathon in Nashville, TN (a new state!) on 04/28/07! Look for a time of less than 5 hours - I'm hoping for something like 4:45.
As far as future plans, I'm THINKING about Twin Cities MN in October, the Tulsa Marathon in November, and maybe Jacksonville FL in February of 2008. This will require major negotiations since my husband is not quite on board with my 50 state plan, although he has been a good sport so far and he is trying to qualify for Boston this year. I will keep you posted.
