Sharing STORIES
WHAT CAN GOD DO WITH THIS?
Recently, while talking with someone about the LWP story, they paused and moved their hands in an up and down manner, as if to say, "This is all I've got", and with a thoughtful expression said, "What can God do with this?" Without replying a word I reflected over the many times God revealed exactly what He could do with not much. The following story dominated my thinking...
It was Easter Sunday about 35 years ago and the church I was pastoring was promoting a special Easter offering for Missions. God blessed and we exceeded our goal by several thousand dollars. But that is not the story. We had been encouraging everyone (men, women, children) to participate. Thirty days before Easter we handed out cardboard gift banks to all our people. The idea was to bring the gift banks, full of offerings on Easter. Some gave large gifts and some could only give small gifts. But the greatest of giftscame from God when He showed the whole church "What God could do with this". You see, one of those gift boxes came from a child who rode one of our buses to church. The child's family was poor and had nothing extra to give. The child must have thought, "What can God do with this?" Because God showed him, he brought his Easter gift and gave it to Missions. It was not money. It was the strangest of all gifts...a coke bottle cap redeemable for 25 cents. So touched was one of the money counters that he took that bottle cap and replaced it with a dollar bill, cupped the cap in his hands, and as only God could do, he spread the story of the bottle cap offering. Each person who heard it redeemed the cap with an offering until a child who had no money to give saw his gift grow to over $350.00. "What can God do with this?"... Indeed!!!
Recently, while talking with someone about the LWP story, they paused and moved their hands in an up and down manner, as if to say, "This is all I've got", and with a thoughtful expression said, "What can God do with this?" Without replying a word I reflected over the many times God revealed exactly what He could do with not much. The following story dominated my thinking...
It was Easter Sunday about 35 years ago and the church I was pastoring was promoting a special Easter offering for Missions. God blessed and we exceeded our goal by several thousand dollars. But that is not the story. We had been encouraging everyone (men, women, children) to participate. Thirty days before Easter we handed out cardboard gift banks to all our people. The idea was to bring the gift banks, full of offerings on Easter. Some gave large gifts and some could only give small gifts. But the greatest of giftscame from God when He showed the whole church "What God could do with this". You see, one of those gift boxes came from a child who rode one of our buses to church. The child's family was poor and had nothing extra to give. The child must have thought, "What can God do with this?" Because God showed him, he brought his Easter gift and gave it to Missions. It was not money. It was the strangest of all gifts...a coke bottle cap redeemable for 25 cents. So touched was one of the money counters that he took that bottle cap and replaced it with a dollar bill, cupped the cap in his hands, and as only God could do, he spread the story of the bottle cap offering. Each person who heard it redeemed the cap with an offering until a child who had no money to give saw his gift grow to over $350.00. "What can God do with this?"... Indeed!!!