The
Leftovers How Much Is Enough
Less
than two years ago, First Baptist Church Pontotoc voted to expand
it’s physical plant to the tune of 3.1 million dollars. Rather than
borrow all of the money required for the project, it was decided the church
would raise 1.1 million before breaking ground. This past Sunday marked the
third Easter involving intense promotional activities aimed at financing
a building project. Last Sunday morning’s church bulletin noted that
we were within approximately two hundred twenty-six thousand dollars of reaching
our goal.
In the weeks leading up to Easter, several individuals were enlisted to testify
regarding the importance and the urgency of First Baptist Church getting
its building project underway. The proposed facilities will provide a significant
amount of additional educational space as well as considerable recreational
space and a new fellowship hall. The purpose of the expansion is to allow
room for growth. If our church experiences the expected numbers with respect
to enrollment and participation, then future generations will be the
beneficiaries of our forward thinking and sacrificial giving.
I have not been as involved in the forward thinking portion of the endeavor
as I have in the part relating to sacrificial giving. For the two previous
years, Barbara and I managed to donate a sum of money to the building fund
that required a sacrifice on our part. It was not a large amount of money,
but it required some spending adjustments. This year, I worried that there
would be no money for us to give.
Hearing the testimonies of various individuals and listening to the sermons
for the past few weeks had left me with a sense of frustration as late as
last Saturday morning before Easter Sunday. One individual (from another
church) cited how he and his wife had chosen to donate their life savings
to their church’s building program a few years ago.
At one point in his testimony, he stated, "We’ve not fully recovered,
either," as a way to quantify the financial sacrifice his family had made.
I wanted to know if his home was paid for and how substantial his retirement
benefits were before I felt too sorry for him or admired him too greatly,
but figuring I’d never know all I wanted to know about his situation,
I contented myself to be miserable in mine.
He acknowledged that everything he possessed was a gift from God. I understood
his logic and his need, as chairman of the finance committee, to set a good
example. Instead of being inspired, I was only more depressed, as my life
savings will be in the hands of SUPERVALU until I retire. However, I do keep
some money in our credit union at work.
Whatever I manage to save for a few months is soon needed for one of the
following: Christmas gifts, Income Taxes, and expenses associated with our
annual cookout/ fish fry. And, in some years, the savings are needed for
home repairs, automobile repairs, or other unexpected or health-related
expenditures. Thus, with a cycle of replenishment and withdrawal, there’s
usually no more than a few thousand dollars in my personal savings at any
given time.
This year, Easter fell less than a week before the deadline for filing income
taxes. I always worry that I won’t have set aside enough money to pay
our state and federal income taxes, and I always wait until the last minute
to file a tax return. In my depression over Barbara and I not having enough
money to donate to the building fund (while there’s never enough, I
am basing my "not enough" on our gifts of the prior two years) and in a weak
moment, I remember telling God that He could have whatever remained in our
savings once the income taxes were paid.
There are plenty of folks who’ll quickly point out the fallacy of such
a proposition by commenting that God deserves more than the leftovers.
"God’s part should come off the top," they say, "not off the bottom."
I’m not sure where they get that unless they relate giving to that which
God required of the Israelites with respect to the first fruits of their
crops. The same Bible that stipulates an offering of first fruits also mentions
the tithe, which is a percentage of one’s possessions that God asks
to be returned to Him as an expression of gratitude on the part of the giver
and the recognition that ultimately all of ones possessions belong to God.
A tithe is one-tenth of whatever one has, though most folks prefer to think
of the tithe as a tenth of ones income.
To be fair in attempting to explain the quote above about God’s share,
I suppose "the top" could relate to ones gross income and "the bottom" to
ones net income. Since gross income is a greater amount than net income,
God would get a larger share if the tithe came off "the top."
Well, enough about tithing; I was referencing my family's financial leftovers,
or more specifically giving to the building fund whatever was left in our
savings once we had satisfied our income tax obligations.
It rained most of Saturday and as such provided me with plenty of indoor
time and plenty of time to work on our tax returns. By mid-afternoon, I was
able to share with Barbara that we owed Uncle Sam the grand sum of one dollar
and the state of Mississippi roughly seven hundred dollars. It was hardly
the amount I was expecting we would owe, but having owed a few thousand in
past years, I wasn’t about to complain that a few hundred was too little.
When I realized there would be a considerable amount leftover in our personal
savings account, I was elated. God would not be receiving a few leftovers;
rather He would get the lion’s share in the savings account.
A small voice, possibly a minion of Satan, spoke to me, "You gonna give all
of that away? Do you think God needs all of it? Why don’t you keep some?
You still haven’t heard from all of your hospital and doctor bills,
and you know your insurance doesn’t pay one hundred percent."
But another voice also spoke, "You made a promise. You have to do the right
thing."
"But that’s before I knew God’s share was going to be so big,"
I protested.
"Don’t you know that God knew what His part was, even before you figured
your taxes? Don’t you see; that was no accident on the part of the mortgage
company in their paying your 2004 property taxes on 12/30/03 instead of this
January? You got to claim an extra year’s worth of property taxes as
a deduction on your 2003 tax return, and that new car your wife bought last
year netted a nice deduction for personal property. You don’t think
all of that’s a coincidence do you?"
Seeing I was in an argument I couldn’t win, I finally just shut up.
I shared with Barbara the arrangement between God and me, and she wrote the
check in the amount of the leftovers based on my calculations.
A close friend sent me an email late Saturday night that I didn’t read
until Easter morning. She closed by writing, "Hope you all have a blessed
Easter."
She had no way of knowing, but I was already having a blessed Easter. Sure,
it was raining and cold, but I knew that as surely as God had provided the
weather, He had provided for Barbara and me, and He had provided a way for
us to share in helping Him begin a work that’s geared more for the future
than the present.
More blessings awaited me at church. The pastor’s sermon on Easter Sunday
was not the typical resurrection message. It was more of a charge to keep
the faith by building the Kingdom of God through sharing His Good News with
the world.
The choir sang some of their Easter music and those of us in the congregation
enjoyed singing a couple of traditional Easter hymns. Standing between Sarah
and Felicia, two sopranos, I struggled to hear my bass voice, but the blending
of our voices added to the blessings of the morning. (Barbara was there,
but Felicia sat between us.)
At the close of the morning worship service, the counting committee brought
an accounting of the morning’s receipts.
The pastor, the choir, and the congregation were all blessed to hear that
$215, 519.10 had been counted, which did not include a fair amount of change
collected by some of the children’s departments. I was blessed, once
more, in the knowledge that Barbara and I had a small part in the near-record,
one-day collection for the building program.
You may be tempted to ask, "Do you think God was happy with the leftovers
you gave Him?"
"Yes, I certainly do. If a person can take leftover scraps of material then
fashion a beautiful and useful patchwork quilt, think what God can do with
our leftovers."
Note: At the time this article was written, First Baptist Church had exceeded
its goal of 1.1 million dollars.
Bodock Beau
Problem Resolution
You needn't be a frequent flyer to appreciate airline humor. Thanks go to
Rhea Palmer for sharing the following:
After every flight,
pilots
fill out a form called a gripe sheet, which conveys to the mechanics problems
encountered with the aircraft during the flight that need repair or correction.
The mechanics read and correct the problem, and then respond in writing on
the lower half of the form what remedial action was taken, and the pilot
reviews the gripe sheets before
the next flight.
Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers lack a sense of humor.
Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints and problems as
submitted by Qantas pilots and the solution recorded by maintenance
engineers.
Note: Qantas is the only major airline that has never had a major
accident.
(P = The problem logged by the pilot and S = The solution and action taken
by maintenance people.)
P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.
P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.
P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.
P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.
P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.
P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're there for.
P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.
P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.
P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.
P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.
P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding
on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.
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