February Financials


This is a graph of budget giving for the last several years.  We are thankful for these gifts.  These are the funds that keep the church operating, the lights on, and bills paid.  This is the space I usually tell you about all the ways your gifts impact others.  How many people were able to worship, how many meals fed through various ministries, and how many people we were able to help with rent.  Well, I’m not doing it this time because I realized even though that’s important it is not why you give.
So instead, here’s another story about my children.
I was looking at some old vacation photos from Disney World.  We went around Halloween time when Sumner was four or five.  In Magic Kingdom they had the villains out in costumes and were passing out candy all over the park.  Well, Sumner went to see Jafar, the bad guy, from Aladdin.  She had already acquired quite the candy collection and she asked, “Can I give some of my candy to Jafar?”  My wife and I said, “sure,” and didn’t think much of it.  Sumner went up to see Jafar and she handed him the candy as she said something to him.  Then simultaneously Jafar hugged Sumner and his “handler” raised her hands to her mouth and appeared to be freaking out a bit.  My wife and I looked at each other and telepathically said, “Ah oh, what did she say?”  As Sumner finished up with her picture the handler came running over too us and said, “Your daughter just said that she wanted to give him candy because Jesus says to love your enemies.  He doesn’t ever give hugs!” We found out later that the hug thing is a pretty big deal because for some reason Disney thinks it will break their magic to have villains running around hugging everybody.
Isn’t it great how a child’s mind works?  She had just finished meeting Aladdin and Abu (the monkey, he was creepy), and now was waiting in line to meet the villain, the enemy.   So, what does she think? I must love him.  How does she do that?  By finding her gold, her frankincense, her myrrh, her CANDY, and giving it away.
She was giving because giving is loving, and loving is what we are called to do.  She wasn’t worried about the end result.  That was in God’s hands.  Jafar might use that piece of candy to go on a sugar fueled, genie catching, diabolical scheme to take over the world, or it might soften his heart, it might be the sweet start down a new path of love and joy.  Who knows?
Thank you for lovingly giving of your gifts of time, talent, and financial resources in celebration of God's generosity in Jesus Christ!
Brandon


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