When I was at Rev Gen Festival a couple weekends ago, I heard this still small voice speak to me. He said, “Give them fifty bucks.” That’s not the sort of message from God that I wanted to hear, to be honest with you. I’d much rather here affirmations, like, “I love you, Doug,” or “I’m going to take care of you. It’ll be alright.” This give when you don’t have much to give stuff is … a tad … uncomfortable. But I was convinced it was the Lord speaking to me. If I doubted, it seemed some of my emotional centers made their opinions known. I trusted that God knew what He was doing and that my obedience was really no big deal and it was the best option. So, without telling my wife or anyone else about it, I grabbed fifty bucks out of my “bank” (money purse used for making change and storing funds from the sale of subscriptions) and placed it in their donation jar.
And today a dear friend and a band that was staying with us gave us handshakes and hugs as they hit the road for more touring. One of the guys hands me an envelope with my initials on it. Inside was a note that said something like, “God told me to tithe this to you.”
I feel very grateful for something like this. I also take it pretty darn seriously. It ranks right up there with a “sacred oath” kind of thing in my book. You don’t treat donations like this lightly. It kind of reminded me to keep myself busy doing the things I’m doing that edify the body of Christ and spread the Word of God. I consider the Bible and the teachings of God to be like the “book of love,” because there is so much encouragement — not only things that show people value and dignity, but also about justice and helping those that need help. There are bold descriptions of God’s holiness and His qualities of fathering the fatherless. I’m so encouraged by the large numbers of Christians everywhere that are forming community with people around them. I’m so privileged to be a part of that.
I’m also reminded about how cool this whole “giving thing” is. I kind of expected something in return for donating a little bit of money. I’ll be honest. Part of me anticipated something cool to happen. I let that go, though, because I think it’s kind of foolish to push for it or approach my future actions on an attitude of “now it’s my turn,” which is just as selfish as “what’s in it for me?” There was no guarantee that I’d be rewarded in any way. I have to trust that it’s just a God thing and I don’t have to understand what His plans are.
Our economy is tough. Not as many albums are being purchased … at least that’s what I hear. Not as many subscriptions are being sold to magazines … at least that’s what I hear. Our numbers are about the same as they were last year, so we’re not experiencing a real downturn there. When I look at the growth of the Christian metal bands in the mainstream rock and metal world, though, I kind of expect more in terms of HM’s growth. I’ve got a lot of work to do in growing my business and keeping music fans aware of what we are and what we do.
Back to my donation to a friend and my friend’s donation to me. I don’t assume that there is a direction connection, but it is kind of funny that I donated $50 and my friend donated $110 to me. If giving is a principle worth learning, I was outgiven.
🙂
If there is no real correlation between the two acts of obedience, there is one thing I can take away from this: I am glad and grateful to be part of a family that can help one another. It’s exciting and rewarding to be in a love community. Adventurous, too.
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