Great Riches

The dollars in our bank account come and go. It’s never very much, but it’s always enough. Yet, at the end of the day when my children crowd onto my oversized lap, all talking over one another, vying for the attention of their father, I understand in my heart that I am one of the richest men in the world.

Along this journey of life I have proved to be a terrible communicator, as well as a terrible fund-raiser. As we are State-side awaiting the birth of our newest little guy the Lord has supplemented our dwindling support with a variety of jobs. One of my aunts suggested they should start a show about it all. I was reminded of her idea when I caught a commercial of, “Dirty Jobs” and I thought, “Wow! That’s my life right now.”

Here’s a short list of my most recent job descriptions: mover, ranch hand, granite guy, bike parts builder, and most recently, a piano teacher. What a crazy variety. Crazy experiences. Crazy life!

Like David fighting his lions and his bears, like Daniel-son painting the fence and sanding the deck, I sense it’s all for a reason, a greater purpose of training us for the next step. My late, great, father-in-law use to humorously say, “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. I’d rather be rich.” While in Mexico our lowest month of support had us surviving on $200.00. After paying a tithe of $20.00, and a rent of $100.00, we had the wonderful experience of stretching the remaining $80.00. We ate a lot of beans and rice that month. You can do a lot with beans and rice. If any of you have ever wondered about Rachel being a super hero…let me affirm…she is amazing.

We refused to live off of credit. Partly, or mainly because I had burned our only credit card over a camp fire a year before as a step of faith. At times it hurt. We didn’t get to always eat what we wanted, buy what we wanted, or do what we wanted. But it was good training and allowed us to come out of Mexico debt-free.

As we seek the Lord about where He would have us go next, I often wonder, “What the heck is all this training for?” Inwardly, I’ve also come to realize that with me it’s never the exotic, dangerous, adventurous places I struggle with saying, “Yes!” to. Rather, it’s the times of boringness, relative ease, and quiet that I wrestle with.

I will not lie. There are times when I stand in a long hot shower, travel down smooth highways, or visit with friends and family nearby, that I am tempted to give up and become a full-time American once again. However, it’s not the adventure, travel, or excitement that keeps me going. It’s simply the call…the desire to lay down my life and be used for a greater purpose. Like the seed falling to the ground to die that it might bear much fruit. To go to the ends of the Earth and share the love of Jesus with those who would otherwise never hear.

I am the richest man in the world not because of the dollars in my bank account. I am rich with love, with hugs and sticky kisses. I am rich with the knowledge that none of it is about me. We use to have the house, the cars, the steady flow of income…and we were always so poor. We have none of that now…and we are richer than ever!