brians blah blah blahg

My cousin is currently in treatment for his drug addiction. He is doing well and was given a one hour pass on Sunday. I took him to lunch at Applebees, he is 34 and said that he hasn’t ever been to a restaurant that nice. It was a great experience for the both of us.

My son and I combined our funds. I work with a woman that is a paraprofessional in the special needs classroom of our junior high. She also assists with special needs adults in the evenings. Unfortunately, neither of these jobs have provided well enough for her to make this month’s personal bills. On Wednesday morning she opened her locker to find a small envelope with 40 dollars in it that simply had written on it: “Thought you might need a little help” ~God~
In typical fashion, she immediately told her supervisor that if one of the students arrived without lunch money today she would like to help. She went on to say that today God smiled on her.

I share my morning commute with a jogger… we cross paths almost every day. She waves at every passer-by, and it makes my day to wave back.

I have often thought of stopping to tell her how much I love the random connection, but since we’re going in opposite directions, it’s not so easy to do.

Well, this morning she had stopped, talking with a neighbor. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen her stop. I instantly knew that she was who I would love to give my reverse offering to! I turned around at the next driveway and approached her and her friend.

I told her that her waves brighten my mornings and that I’d like to brighten her Friday morning… I told her what our church had done and gave her the $5. She gave me a big hug and said that my waving back is what gives her strength to keep going! She was so excited too – she works with teen girls and they’ve been wanting a book but didn’t have funds. She knew exactly what she was going to do with the money! God fulfilled a need!

It was awesome. I was stumped at what do to when I received the money and had been praying that God would make it obvious. He did this morning! (and I’m so glad I was listening)

And now I know – I share my commute with Peggy Lou, and we share God! Awesome!

I work with a friend that has had more rough times than she should be allowed. She works 2 jobs and takes care of her 4 year old daughter on her own. She struggles each month to make bills, sometimes skipping lunch just to save money. She is not one to ask for help. Not because she has too much pride but because she knows there are people even more worse off than she is. She works hard and just needed a little break. I taped the $5 I received in the reverse offering to the inside of her car window in the envelope. I didn’t leave my name. I simple attached a note that said “I know its not much but God wanted me to pass this on to you.” Im hoping this small gift from God will brighten her spirits and renew her faith. It has certainly has renewed mine.

After contemplating all week who I should give my $5 dollars to, a thought popped into my head as I was driving home today. My sister and I have been making some trips to the tanning salon to work on our tans for an upcoming cruise next week. For the last couple of sessions, there has been a high school girl working in there. I felt that she could use the extra money so I wrote a little note that said – Paying it forward to make your day a little brighter! I signed my name and then put the note and money on the chair inside of the tanning room. Before I left the room, I said a prayer for her. I’m hoping that she felt a touch from God tonight.

I knew immediately where I wanted the gift to go. I gave it to a 12-step group that is struggling to pay the rent and to keep the coffee pots full. More importantly they are in need of AA books to have available for the newcomers. The $20.00 can buy 3 books that could potentially lead several struggling addicts or alcoholics to a program of recovery and a faith in God.

We had a family meeting and we all gave suggestions. We decided to take the $10 we received and grow it (Matt. 24:14-30) by using it to buy ingredients for cookies. The kids (ages 7 and 10)went door-to-door on our street telling our neighbors what we were doing and taking orders. The kids also set up a table at church and people donated money for cookies. Results: the initial $10 ended up being $155. We will donate the money to Advice & Aid and Life In Abundance (LIA). What a great lesson for the kids! Luke, the 10-yr old says, “I learned that by taking something and doing something to make it bigger, that you can make a difference in someone else’s life.”

The money given to me is on its way to southern Sudan to the area called Akon. It will support the work of the group Jump Start Sudan.

First service Sunday morning, I shared a portion of my story, but did not know the amount that was added to my original $5.00. I explained, that as Director of Health Services for Olathe District Schools I inherited the responsibility of managing a fund of money to assist students with urgent health needs that lack insurance or another means to provide the needed care. The fund exists soley through donations. The last few years the needs have grown and grown. Last year we assisted almost 100 students with over $8,000.00 of needs. We limit the assistance to any one student to $300/year.

The school nurses had a meeting last Friday morning. I told them about receiving the $5.00 at church. I told them I had added another $10.00. I invited them to join in the reverse offering. As of today (October 13th), we have received $720.00 for the fund (more then 100 fold). Thank you for this wonderful idea, that resulted in a sizable donation to our fund.

We were blessed earlier this year to be able to adopt our daughter from China. She spent much of the first 2 years of her life in a children’s welfare institute (CWI) in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, that primarily houses children with some degree of special needs. Some of those kids will not have the opportunity to be adopted into a family. We pooled our $20 and contributed it to a fund established by our Christian adoption agency that pays for medical and foster care for kids with needs in Chinese institutions.

In college I as involved with a campus ministry called Christian Campus House at Southwest Missouri State University (now known as Missouri State University). My husband and I met in this ministry and have been supporters for the past 7 years. This ministry made such a huge impact in my life and they have always been very responsible with the everything that has been given to them. With the economy in the state that it’s been in for the past few years, they have just managed to scrape by without going into debt. This year with the high gas prices they saw a shift in the amount of donations coming in from supporters and they ended up in the red. A week before our current sermon series at CRCC, I received a letter from Christian Campus House asking it’s supporters if they could possibly give more to help them out of the debt situation. In fact they specifically invited all past alumni to give just $10 a month if possible. Well, in our envelope we received at church there was a $10 bill. So, it wasn’t hard to decide where that $10 was going to be sent. We hope to be able to contribute to that ministry on a continuing basis and the $10 was a good start.

We have seen PROeM ministry in action in person. Our son is serving that ministry in Poland right now. We put the money into his account, so he could withdraw it and put it in the offering on the first Sunday in the new TOMY Center (Oct. 19). We know the money will be used to help someone in Tomaszow. It is such a privilege to be part of that effective ministry.

Thryroid cancer was recently discovered in the 4 year old son of one of my professional colleagues. I know this is a hard time for her, with school and the shock of the diagnosis of her boy. A fund was recently set up for them as they embark on a journey of numerous expenses in travel and health care. Thus, my wife and I decided to give our money to the fund, in addition to our prayer support as they go through this difficult time.

I have a family friend who has recently divorced and become a single mom after 32 years of marriage. In the last year and half her life (and her faith) has resembled that of Job’s. I never knew so many bad things could happen to one person. She has completely started her life over and is doing her best to provide for the 3 of her 5 children that are still living at home.

At the beginning of the school year, when my siblings were getting new clothes, shoes and backpacks, she was wondering how she was going to pay for the things her children needed. I so badly wanted to surprise her girls with a new outfit each but couldn’t afford it myself. So after our reverse offering, I took my $20 and bought an Old Navy giftcard and mailed it to her anonymously with a note that said “God loves you and thought you could use this”.

Jeff and I are always able to give of our time and service but so rarely get to give extra monetary gifts. This experience has been such a blessing in my life and I am so thankful for it!

My gift will be given to Operation Christmas Child to help defray shipping costs which have escalated with the higher cost of gas. But it actually was someone else’s gift of groceries and $5 left on a divorced mom’s doorstep last week that I need to tell. Last night my 8 MONTH old van’s battery died..completely..couldn’t even jump it. I had it towed to the dealer who called this morning to say it was fixed and did I need a ride to the dealership to pick it up. Jack was out of town which left me without a vehicle so I said sure. The driver,Tracy, picked me up and before I knew it I was telling her about CRCC and the exact address of the church which happens to be 10 blocks south of where she lives. At this point I’ve got goosebumps which were not caused by the chilly, rainy morning! She gets all excited and asks if I can explain why the groceries were left on her doorstep..she kept thinking she should take them to a food pantry or something..but decided to use the food and the $5 as she is currently juggling 3 jobs in order to payoff $250,000 worth of medical bills. The money was in the CRCC offering envelope so she tried accessing the website but nothing really “clicked”. When I told her of the reverse offering she choked up, told me her story, and asked about our style of worship and teaching..she had a relationship with God but after a bitter divorce 4 years ago she became angry with God but recently has been looking for a church home. Long story short, she is excited to check out CRCC this Sunday! We both were amazed at how God orchestrated our paths to cross.

I was eating lunch by myself at a McD’s this week in D.C. and there was a homeless man asleep at one of the tables by the front door (fall had arrived overnight and it was pretty blustery outside). Many people came and went while I sat there and no one seemed to notice the man … I kept thinking “Poor guy, he had to buy a coke just to be able to stay inside.” That’s when God spoke to me and told me that NOW would be a good time to leave my $5 b/c this man could use some food, too. So, I took a napkin, wrote “Jesus loves you!” on it, slipped in the money and laid it next to his hand on the table. I left thanking God for being so clear about what to do and trusting Him completely to bless the man that no one noticed that day … except Him! I remember that old song, “His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me.” He is the God that sees and provides!

We gave the money from CRCC to the waitress at a restaurant with a note that said “We have been blessed and we want to bless you.”

I am so inspired by all these stories. What an amazing community of believers who are willing to step out in faith and change the world.

Life in Abundance International (LIA) was the recipient of some of this generousity. The money donated by the Fraser’s will go to fund care for an orphan in Africa for nearly 5 months. This covers medical care, school fees, food, clothing, and family.

We were so inspired by all the stories of generousity from your church family that we wanted to share the inspiration with all our friends on our blog at blog.liaint.org.

Thanks for loving people in amazing ways and thanks for being a part of changing the world.

God Bless,
J.J. Peterson
LIA

I was determined to find someone in my path who was at a point of need. After two weeks of carrying the $20 in the CRCC envelope in my pocket (and long after the “deadline” under the rules) I was a bit frustrated that either I was being blind or that it just didn’t seem to happen for me.

Then, today, I walked into the Coffee Shop and there at one of the tables was a man whom, from previous encounters, I knew was struggling in every area of his life; a man who rides a bike as his primary transportation and who has too many personal and financial challenges to count. We exchanged greetings and when I asked what was going on in his life, he said that he had lost his job when the company moved too far away for him to commute to by bike and he was needing to take a reading test to qualify for some training that might open up some other job opportunities. He had a money order for $5 but the test cost $25.

Candidly, it didn’t strike me for a minute or two and when it did, I wondered how many others had been in my path all along but that I had similarly looked right past by being preoccupied. I placed some more money in the envelope and gave him the envelope including the $20 I had received.

Thank you for stirring us to generosity and greater awareness of the needs around us.

I folded up the $10 that CRCC had given me and placed it in my wallet. I wasn’t sure where/when the opportunity would arise for me to give it away, but I wanted to be prepared when/if it would happen. On Saturday I was in San Francisco and a women was begging for money with her 2 children. She had a sign that said she needed money for a hotel room, and was being berated by a man who was telling her what she needed to do to get God’s forgiveness. I folded up the bill and placed it in her hand and told her I knew it wasn’t much, but I hoped she could use it. She responded that she was just 8 dollars short of a hotel room and that the “small” amount was absolutely perfect.

Although I am a few states away in KY, my family is still in KS. Both biological family and Church family. Yes, I have a wonderful Church and group of friends I can call family here. But reading these, I’m inspired and I can see your hearts just give because you received. In the same way, I can see your hearts serve because you were served. And in the same way, I can see your hearts love, because you were loved! God has blessed my Church there in Kansas City beyond measure, and I have been blessed just reading the stories! I pray for you all daily and am excited that I have a Church that will give and serve and love and bless… because they know the Truth in Jesus Christ and want to share it with the world!
As it says in John 1:16, “From the fullness of His grace, we have all received one blessing after another.”
Love you guys!~Julie