Y Give? See Isaiah 58

This month we are preaching a 4 part series of messages called "Y? - Why we do what we do". Too often the church communicates the "what" and the "how", but rarely do we talk about the "why". Two weeks ago, I spoke on the subject of "Y Grow", last Sunday Jason spoke on "Y Jesus", and this week I am up to bat again with "Y Give". God has been chiseling away on me throughout the year concerning my level of generosity.

In November 2005, Jason and I had the bright idea of putting a full color church ad in the Dinosaur, oops, I mean the Yellow Pages. Now this has not produced results in terms in new guest visits, but the church line does ring off the wall from time to time...with requests. Requests for food, lodging, help with rent, utilities, a cold beer, you name it, we get it. And to top it off, since the church line is forwarded to my mobile phone, who do you think gets to handle these requests?

As I said before, God has been chiseling away at my heart all year long. First, He crossed my path with David, a homeless guy in DC we met while at the Buzz Conference. God melted my heart and led DStory and myself to provide a McDonalds meal and $20 bucks for a warm bed for David. Then in September, I received a call on the weekend from a lady who was requesting food. I pulled my Scrooge self off of the couch and begrudgingly headed to town to buy some groceries to take to the lady. While I was wheeling the grocery basket thru Kroger, God grabbed my heart and let me know how selfish I was. I was groaning about spending time on my day off to help this lady, while I had so many blessings sitting at home...my family, a warm bed, a refridgerator full of food. God broke me down and changed my attitude that day and has continued to give me a greater desire to help and a better attitude of generosity.

Last night I delivered another load of groceries to a lady in need. Later, I ran into Loren at BCM and asked her what she was reading for her LTG this week. She told me about her journey through the book of Isaiah, and without knowing about my day, shared a verse that had touched her heart for the week. She pointed me to Isaiah 58:10...

"Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness around you and be as bright as day."

OK Lord, I get the message. Thank you for opening my eyes.