Interactions with God #66
At the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Chelmsford, the home group leaders were the elders of the church. Since Martha and I, were part of the leadership team, we were included in major decision meetings. Somewhere in 1994, we had one of those meetings. In the meeting, Pastor Ed and the associate pastors talked about plans to buy the building space we had been renting. They also talked about a sad truth, the infamous 80/20 Rule. The rule states that, in any church 20% of the people support 80% of the church. This was true for our church. One of the pastors then pointed out that the 20% of our church were all in the room at that very moment. There was absolutely no pressure, but then they said that if everyone in the room could give $1000, the building purchase could happen tomorrow. No one expected that, it was more an observation of how close we were to buying the space.
Working at Sybase, I was now making more money than I ever had. Yet, we were still catching up on the lack funds that had lasted years. Martha and I just didn’t have $1000 to give. So, sitting there in that meeting, I spoke to God in my heart. “Lord, I would love to be able to help out here. But, there is no way we can do that unless you do something cool.” I then asked Him to send $1000 my way for the building project.
It was only a couple days later, while at work. I got a call from AT&T. The person on the line asked if they were speaking to Lou Dignazio. I replied, “Yes, that’s me.” They said they had been trying to locate me for years. Apparently, we had 401k money from when I worked at the Phone Center Store. They needed to return it to me. I have no idea how they found me there at Sybase. Of a truth, when someone says they have money for you, you don’t really care how they found you…
I asked the woman how much it was. The amount came out to about $1,100 or $1,200. I am not sure what the amount was exactly, because all I remember is what she said next. “After the taxes are taken out of it, the amount comes to around $1000.” At first, I thought to myself, “Sweet! We have an extra $1000!” Then I remembered what I had prayed for, just days earlier. God had given me the $1000, just like I asked for. We happily gave the money to the church building project.
There are several interesting points here. One, Martha does not miss a trick when it comes to our finances. Yes, she is the one who manages them. She is really good with it, I stink at it. It makes perfect sense. So either she did something way out of character as I left AT&T or God created the money and added a backstory. Look, I know that is extreme, but I know Martha, and I know God. He could most certainly do something like that.
The other interesting thing is that God could have given us the $1000 at any time over the years. There were many days that a surprise $1000, would have blessed us considerably. He didn’t do that. No, He waited until I asked for money to give to the church. You see, God really does lead us into hard times for our growth. Though that $1000 would have helped us pay for things, the lack of it was more useful in our growing faith. The giving of it was also as much for the growth of Martha and I, as it was for the growth of the church.