What We Give Away

Been thinking about the things we give away...

Usually they are things that hold little value to us - at least at the time we give them away.

They may have held greater value at one time - like when we first bought them. Even then, the value may have been more of what it meant to us than the dollars actually paid for it.

You know what they say, an item is worth whatever someone else will pay for it. I think that often explains the prices for designer clothes. They make little sense where we live. We see designer labels sometimes...no doubt given away in someone's moment of charity - or simply because they were no longer the fashion of the moment.

What about other things, like furniture, vehicles, land, cash...

Whoa now! Getting a little carried away aren't we?! Not really, people give away those thing all the time. Sometimes for personal gain,  sometimes as acts of gracious, generous hearts.

Most times we give out of our abundance 

       - sometimes we give out of guilt 

                 - few times we give out of a desire to change someone else's situation 

                           - occasionally, I think we give out of obedience...

I have been all of those.

I think I recently gave out of obedience. I gave something that to most people would not have any value at all beyond the price a yard sale might find on it. But to me...and I dare to believe, that to the person who I gave this item, it carries GREAT VALUE.

I gave out of obedience - I am sure of this because, at first, I did not want to give it.

I struggled with the idea.

I thought of other options.

I thought of valid reasons to not to do  - or to do something else.

Funny thing about obedience - it only works when you do it.

When I finally came to the point that I was giving this item, it was still difficult, but the dye had been set. I was on a course to deliver it and the conversation's purpose, known only to me, confirmed what I felt the Lord had told me to do. 

At that point, I was gaining strength and determination. This treasure - that cannot be replaced - I was willingly placing into the hands of someone else. 

        Someone important to me. 

              Someone important to God.

I think this is my point today - that our obedience - in giving, in doing, in listening, in just living out life - is always about us - and about someone else that is important to God.

So our giving - should just be a reflection of God's grace being poured through our lives in the lives of others.

Yeah, I think that about says it - 

It will be interesting to see, somewhere near the end of our life's journeys, what things we valued most of all - and what we did with them...

I think there must be a category that tells in no uncertain terms, that the things we valued the most, were the things we gave away.

May we all follow Jesus with the heart of Psalm 119: 4 "You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed."

~ Ray

First things first - we APOLOGIZE for being so tardy in keeping in touch with updates - ! It is my fault really, I have been pretty busy teaching and some of the schedules have been changing a bit which makes preparation different, etc...all excuses though, so I apologize....

Training of the pastors is our main purpose in being here in Belize. That, I am glad to say is going pretty well. Each of the 3 locations where I teach has its own personality and mix of personalities. We do one subject per month. The entire course of study can be completed in 3 years. Missing a class can have serious delays but we are also committed to doing all we can to move pastors through the courses.

It is interesting teaching full time like this. It is challenging to keep up on all the different courses. The material prepared by the Church of the Nazarene denomination is very good. This means I do not have to make my own lessons for all of these subjects - which is VERY GOOD! Otherwise, I would not get anything done and would constantly be stressing over the next class.

As it is, there is very little downtime. By the time I finish one subject, I am already late in preparing for the next one, as the 3 locations meet at different times of the month, so I go directly from one place to the next and change subjects at the beginning of every month.

A positive note about all the different subjects is that I get to relearn these things all over again. The biggest challenge comes in making it clear enough and easy to apply so that the students can use the information to do more than just past a test - we want to see their churches and their people benefit as well.

It is a blessing to see some of them really grabbing what is being taught 

 - and applying it 

 - and see the effects on some of the local leaders and churches.

Pray that this continues - 

pray that we see more and more attend the classes

pray that they will understand and gain not just knowledge but the wisdom to apply what they are learning

pray that more people will accept Christ

and that the church in Belize will be transformed into the image of Christ that God desires to see!

Also - please pray for District Assembly this weekend. This is a crucial election year.

Belizean blessings to you all !!

~Ray & Becki

ps - if you are not already - can we encourage you to get  a free Facebook account?

We have found recently that it is a great way to keep in touch with a LOT of people.

Just go to www.facebook.com and sign up - then come find us as 'Friends'

In fact, go to this address to see some pictures we just loaded:

http://facebook.com/album.php?aid=16187&id=1077338799&l=f0967

(cut and paste that address to see the pics!)