Dec 10th, 2007
How Great is Our God?
How great is Our God?
At the C12 Chairs training in
The book is the story of ICM ministry and the life of Dois Roesser Some 20 years ago the Lord led Dois to begin to build churches in the developing nations of the world and in the process gave him the concept of building buildings that were a combination of Church/Orphanages at a very reasonable cost. For some reason, as I read of the way He used these buildings in the local communities, I felt the Lord say to me, “You could do that.” I have never had any sort of vision for building churches anywhere let alone a third-world country. Not that I’m not all for it, it just never occurred to me that it would be a part of God’s plan for me.
I shared the book with Bonnie without much comment and as she read the part about the Church/Orphanages I asked her what she thought. She said “We could do that.” We quickly agreed to pray and ask God if and how we might.
It “happened” that I was scheduled to attend a conference in Virginia Beach the next week and inquired of Ralph if I could visit ICM and learn more. (Ralph Miller is a board member of ICM and C12 Chair in Virginia Beach). Not only was I able to visit, but also privileged to meet Dois. I told him that we were interested in building a Church/Orphanage and he asked me where we were thinking about. When I told him
For those of you who know me you know we have never been about money. Starting C12 risked all we had and we have been well cared for by our Father but not in a position to accumulate much. However, about 8 years ago we had been advised to start a 401-K simply to take advantage of the tax deduction, and we had done so. I bought stock in Kforce, Inc. because the CEO, Dave Dunkel is a dear friend and member of my original group in Tampa and member of the C12 BOD. I was excited to walk with him in this way. Each year I added what the allowable amount was and when I checked last April it was over $50,000! I called my broker and asked him to sell $30,000 worth of stock and incidentally asked him to check what percentage of the total value was profit. We both laughed when he came back and said, “You won’t believe this but your profit is $30,400! I said “Great, enough for two C/Os and a down payment on a trip to visit them!”
Well, we just got back from Ongole,
“As all of you know I journal daily and review my notes weekly and at the end of each year in December and January. Today I was rereading my writing from February 13 and this is what I read “Father, You have given Bonnie and I abundance. I don’t want to hoard. I don’t care about investment plans or savings accounts. We have the 401-K just to save on taxes but I don’t want the money there. Show me what to do Father. I long to be rich toward You as You are rich toward me. It’s not an accounting measure it is a heart measure. You gave to me first and far beyond anything I could give to you. I want to give like You Abba! I want Your heart to beat in me and Your resources to flow through me. Help me to hear you. When I wrote this to my Father I had no idea that Ralph Miller would bring the book “The God Who hung on The Cross” to our Chairs Meeting in late March and give me a copy. I had no clue that in reading it that God would answer this prayer by leading Bonnie and I to build two churches in India and to reorganize our estate. BUT HE DID! He led us to start the 401-K years before. He grew it in Kforce stock to be worth over $50,000. He brought me to want to use it in His Kingdom and led me to the place He prepared for some of it to be used. He even allowed me to share in the joy of those He prepared to receive the answer to my prayer. “How great is our God? O sing with me how great is our God!” Of course it won’t end here, I just don’t know yet what the next steps will be. He began a good work in my long before I knew Him and there is much more to be done. It isn’t ended, in fact in many ways I feel that “I ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” I write this to you to encourage you and certainly not to bring attention to me or anything that I have done. It’s not about me it’s all about Him! And it’s all about His progressive work in our lives and answers to prayer we prayed long ago and haven’t seen answers to - yet. I also hope that its an encouragement to journal and review. Had I not I would sure have missed a blessing! I am grateful that each one of you is part of my life and His work in and through me! Press on!”I am attaching a few pictures, and hope that you not only enjoy them, but that you might be encouraged to trust Him more. He is our Rock and our Source! Before all this my 401-K was just numbers on paper, nothing of real value to me or to anyone else. Interesting to glance at once in a while but that’s about it. Breaking off a piece to share with brothers and sisters, and leveraging it into God’s Kingdom is worth so much more, a much better investment!