“…fix your attention on
God. You’ll be changed from the inside
out.”(Romans 12:2 The Message)
Cindy and Steve were making final
plans for their summer vacation. They
had considered some trips close to home, yet their dream trip to Yellowstone
kept bouncing back into the discussion.
They thought about the fact that their oldest child will start high
school in the fall and and the fact that they usually traveled home to Michigan
to see family. Finally they decided to
“go for it” and head to Yellowstone.
The next Sunday, Steve started writing
the check for their offering. He found
Cindy and asked, “What do you think about giving less to the church this summer
to make sure we have enough money for our vacation?” She said, “I guess it’s okay…I don’t know,”
as she ran off to comb little Lily’s hair.
When it came time for the offering,
their 10 year old son took his turn at putting the envelope in the plate. Steve noticed that he was studying it pretty
closely. When they got out to the car,
Tyler asked, “How come you gave less to the church today, Dad?” Steve looked at Cindy, who stared straight
ahead at the road. He replied, “Well,
your mother and I were thinking about taking a special vacation this
summer. You know that Kristy’s going to
high school next year and…” Kristy
interrupted, “Mom said you were thinking about taking us to Yellowstone instead
of going to Grandma and Grandpa’s this year.
Why would we want to do that? It
doesn’t seem very faithful to me for us to give less to the church just so we
can take a trip to see Old Faithful!”
After the kids were in bed, Cindy
brought Steve the checkbook and said, “I just went online and signed up to have
our regular tithe sent to the church every week through online banking. Do you want to write a check to make up the
difference this week or should I?” “I
will,” he said. “And I’ll call my folks
to make sure we can come during our usual week in August. Maybe we can take the ferry or do something
special while we’re in Michigan this year and start a new tradition.”
God Is Still In Control!
Miss Lladale Carey
Web Content Producer
www.umcgiving.org
lcarey@umcom.org
No comments:
Post a Comment