Faith and Faithfulness

Something wonderful is about to happen. I don’t yet know what it is, but I am in great anticipation. In just a few days, I am going to India. And yes, I know saying that violates one of the most important social media cardinal rules. However, lest any potential home invaders are reading this, my home is not empty. There will be someone there – my wife. I do have family and friends looking out after my wife and I have a dog that not only barks quite loudly and viciously at every stranger that dares come to the door, but also sleeps on the floor beside my wife when I am not at home. With that said, back something wonderful about to happen.

I know that something wonderful is about to happen because this trip has been an act of complete faith and a demonstration of God’s faithfulness from the beginning.

Early this fall, Designs For Hope received the invitation to return to Eluru, India to participate in the celebration of the dedication of a new church (cathedral). Immediately God impressed upon me that He wanted me to go – at least, that was what my spirit was telling me. At the same time, though, I didn’t think it would be possible to go. When we discussed the offer, the initial responses from Chris and the others at DFH was a pretty strong “no” - we even responded back to our friends in Eluru telling them that we could not make it. And yet God was still impressing upon me to go.

One of the reasons I didn’t think it was possible to go was because this trip would be during the peak of the Christmas season. No one really wants to go all the way around the world and be away from family during this time – not even me. Surely God did not want me to travel that far alone. Is that safe? Is it wise? Not by man’s standard of wisdom and safety. So even though we had already decided not to go and had told our friends in Eluru that we would not make it, I made some quiet inquiries to see if others might be interested in going with – but no one else could go. Still, God was impressing upon me to go – even if I were the only one going. God’s standard of safety and man’s standard of safety are not the same.

Even then, I didn’t think it was possible to go because, quite frankly, I didn’t have the money to go. A trip of this kind is expensive enough when a number of people are going and you can spread some of the fixed costs (like product that we would be taking) across several people. It is all the more expensive if only one goes. Sure, everyone knows I give away homemade salsa in exchange for donations towards my mission trips, but there is no way I could make enough salsa to fund this trip. In addition, the timing for raising the funds couldn’t be any worse. Designs For Hope’s annual fundraiser dinner and silent auction was coming up during this same time period. How could I raise funds directly associated with this trip without taking away from the more general fundraising of the benefit dinner? But God was still impressing upon me to go. God’s economy and man’s economy are not the same.

So I took a step of faith. I made a decision. I would go – even if no one goes with me. It reminds me of the old carol “I have decided to follow Jesus” – “though none go with me, still I will follow.” I would go – even though I had no idea how to pay for the trip. I would go – even though the DFH leadership already said we were not going. It was by far one of the largest steps of faith I have taken in my life. So I went to Chris and told him… I’m going… and then I immediately applied for my travel visa.

Here is the amazing principle that so many of us fail to grasp (we know it in our heads but perhaps do not always believe it in our hearts) God’s response to our faith is always the same - his faithfulness. Not only was Chris not upset, but even his heart had softened towards the trip and the DFH leadership decided to partially fund the trip. But that was just the start. Within one week of applying for the visa, I had raised the entire remaining funds necessary for the trip. Funds given specifically for the purpose of the trip. It was the most amazing outpouring of generosity I had ever seen. But even that was only the beginning. Not only did we raise the minimum travel funds necessary, but we raised enough to do far above what we could have imagined for one person traveling alone. AND… it didn’t affect the benefit dinner fundraising either. This year’s benefit dinner was a huge success. It was God’s faithfulness in action. But that faithfulness did not stop there.

At every turn, God has been faithful. While I am there, I will be doing a full day of pastor training and will be preaching 3 times. Two are services related to the church dedication and the third is Sunday services. God has graciously given all that I need for all of that work. The pastor training will be about discipleship and God has given me two sermons that I believe will be perfect for the occasion of dedicating the new building. Also, Sunday will be the third week of Advent. Why is that significant? Because the third week of Advent is all about JOY… oh yeah, I wrote a whole book on Joy (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C7E7SJS)... Who but God could have worked out that kind of timing? Faithfulness in action.

With all of that faithfulness being poured out, I still can’t say I’m not nervous about this trip. There is still the whole “traveling abroad alone” thing. But then again, am I really alone? Of course not, but it will still be an act of faith for me to step on that plane. I also can’t say I’m not nervous about the ministry aspect of the trip. Satan is constantly filling my head with thoughts of inadequacy. Who am I to go over there and presume to train them? Who am I to go over there and preach to them? I don’t know how to install bicycle generators. That effort will certainly be a huge flop. There’s no one there to have your back. The whole trip will be a flop. Why are you even going? These are the thoughts constantly running through my head. So I go… but I go in faith…
Without a doubt, God has worked out everything so perfectly the way he wanted. How can I not have faith that he will be faithful? So… that is why I can say… Something wonderful is about to happen. God is faithful. I have faith in that.