“And he called the
twelve together ... and sent them out to preach the kingdom of God
and to heal. And he said to them, “Take nothing for your
journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.” Luke
9:1-3
“Please stand up if
you want to relinquish your rights to reputation, your own plans, your
finances, or anything else for the sake of serving Christ.” I felt an inner
longing to literally give up my right to “my”
money. If I was without money, could Christ meet my needs? Where I was at
spiritually that evening in 1975 in Kona, Hawaii, the answer was a burning “yes!” I stood to my feet as Loren
Cunningham, the founder of Youth With A Mission (or YWAM), prayed for all of
us.
I’d moved to Hawaii a few weeks earlier. Looking for a job,
and a church in which to practice my new found faith, I had met people from
YWAM, and was in their School of Evangelism now, along with about 80 others. I
had paid for my expenses at YWAM and had some money in the bank that I’d saved.
I had never been without money. My family was not rich, we
were blue collar folks from a small town in Idaho. But I always had some money.
Now, I was burning with excitement to trust God even if I had no money.
When Loren asked who still owed money for the school, hands
shot up. One guy named Mike said, “I still
owe $800.”
My heart leapt. I felt an impression to meet that need. If I
gave Mike $800, I’d be down to zero, and I’d see if Jesus really could do what he’d
said. But $800 was an unheard of amount for me to give! More so in 1975 when a
gallon of gas cost about $.53[1].
Wanting to be cautious, I prayed, “Lord, if you want me to give $800 to Mike, when we get on the bus to
leave tonight keep one seat next to Mike vacant.” I waited by the bus until
everyone had gotten on. Then I boarded, and there was only one seat, and it was
beside Mike!
The next day I withdrew eight one-hundred dollar bills and
put them in an envelope. On the way to Mike’s apartment, I prayed, “Lord, let there be no one at the apartment.”
When I arrived, none of the 5 or 6 roommates were there. I went in, slipped the
unmarked envelope under Mike’s pillow, and left.
A couple days later, the students were given a chance to
share what was happening. I sat excitedly waiting for Mike to speak.
He stood up and said, “I
owed $802 on my school bill. A couple of days ago I found an envelope from
someone under my pillow. It had $800 in it. That’s great, but that’s not what
excited me. Last night two of us were in downtown Kailua-Kona talking to people
about Jesus. As I spoke to one man, he insisted on pushing something into my
hand. I told him, “We don’t want money,” but the man insisted. Later when I looked I saw it was $2. I needed
exactly $802, and the Lord gave me that precise amount.”
I remember the hair on the back of my neck standing up and
getting goose bumps. God taught me a lesson about His ability to provide.