It’s funny how the Lord works. You’re sitting in church on a Sunday morning, minding your own business – and then your world is turned upside down, in slow motion.Let me tell you how this happened to me.
Pastor Kelly Backstrom of River Rock Church in Vancouver, Washington, issued a challenge to several of us one Sunday morning to take $100.00 each that he gave us, use it for God, and see what God could do with it. Kelly was trying to teach us the wonderful blessing of giving.
The next Sunday Jordan, age 10, and his mother Tracy, gave a presentation on how they had purchased donuts, set up a stand, and traded donuts for donations for Hurricane Katrina victims. They raised hundreds of dollars and then his Dad, Chris, matched the donations. Wow, a few donuts became about $700 for those in desperate need. They stepped out by faith that God would bless and add the increase.
I was struck by the thought that if God could use Jordan’s faith like that, maybe He could use me also. So I began to pray that God would help me to use the money wisely for Him. (It’s His money, after all.) I just wanted to be a part of seeing it used – to be a part of God’s blessing. I hoped that God would hear my prayers. I carried the $100.00 in my pocket so that when God showed me how to use it, I would be ready.
Soon thereafter my wife Juliana was talking to one of her sisters in the Philippines. Juliana is from the Philippines, and there a dollar was worth 55 pesos at the time. There was a 55-to-1 increase right there! I ask Juliana to ask her sisters if they had an idea how to use the $100.00 there.
I should tell you that the island of Panay, Antique Province, in the city of Patnongon, barangay Padag is where Juliana’s sisters live. It is made up mostly of rural farms and some fishing villages. Rice and fruit are the main crops. There are families who own small farms that provide for themselves, and those who own larger farms that employ workers. The Filipino people are rich in both faith and family. In fact, they count their relatives to the 3rd and 4th cousins. Juliana’s family is just that way. Her sisters, like Juliana, have a strong faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and are involved in the church there.
I had asked if Juliana’s sisters could think of a way to invest the Lord’s $100.00. As it turned out, her older sister, Alberta, came up with a wonderful idea. She used the $100- which became 5500 pesos - to put little packs of household medicines together. Juliana’s family asked God to bless this sharing by providing opportunities to share the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ with those who received them. These medical supplies were then given to the poorer families. As a result, hundreds of families were blessed and evangelized.
At the same time this was happening, Juliana’s younger sister, Helen, had been praying for a chapel for worship. Patnongon had no chapel.Providentially, another family, Rick and Bianca Streif, were moved to donate $400.00 toward the chapel. At first Helen was going to build a small bamboo chapel, but a structure of bamboo would have to be rebuilt each year. What to do? The Lord answered this need, as well, by moving Juliana and I and many others of God family to send money each month, by God’s blessing, until the little chapel was built. It’s nothing fancy, and not quite finished, but God is certainly blessing it.
Fast forward: just one year later, in August of 2006, we visited Patnongon, Philippines, for the Grace Chapel dedication service. There was a preacher from El Shaddai and one from the Assembly of God. I gave my testimony, and there was a lot of praising worship that lasted for almost three hours. There were about 50 people who turned out for this special worship service. It was an enormous blessing!There was also a big party, with a lot of the town’s people in attendance. The list of guests included a town councilman, the local policeman, the tax collector, the local veterinarian, the department of Agriculture, many teachers, those who hands had built the chapel and, of course, family members who were there to say “thank you!”
The Lord always seems to be reminding me of how Jesus took a few loaves and fishes and fed 5,000 people. That humble but powerful miracle was seen again with the $100.00 that my brother Kelly had challenged me with. Juliana and I and God's people continue to give what little we have, and God uses it to continue to bless multitudes.
Most of all, He blesses us all, as those who now have become a part of His blessings to the Philippines.
Your Brother in Christ,
Steve Bragg
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