Witness

Our pastor has been on a sermon series here lately talking about being a witness to Christ's power in lives. He's challenged us to use what we have seen and we have heard to share Christ, because we never know when it could be crucial to someone else's life.

I want my life to do just that--to speak often, and when necessary I will use words. God recently reminded me that we are doing just that.

Since June it seems like we have had one unexpected expense after another. We budget for this, we plan for that, but at the end of the day it is inevitable that something happens, something breaks, something gets lost that must be replaced. And we've managed it every time. God always makes sure our store house is full. But it sure wears a person down.

Mark bought himself a new tennis racket this summer. He needed $100 to pay for it. So he mowed yards until he had raised $65. Then, on one of our trips to Sea World he looked down and was blessed to find a $20 bill in an off beaten path. At that point, Chris and I told him we would put the rest in. But he knew the hard work that came with purchasing that racket. Yet, as he plays tennis, whenever he makes a bad shot or misses a ball he will hit the racket on his shoe. I've told him time and again that he will weaken the integrity of the strings by doing that. And yesterday he returned a hard shot when the strings finally gave. He has a dual match after school today.

So at 2:45 I received a call from Mark telling me that he broke his strings. It can be restrung, but on the cheap end the strings start at $30, and can go up into the hundreds from there. Another unexpected expense. I explained to him that he would have to use his back up racket (even if it wasn't his favorite) until we could get to the tennis shop to get his new one restrung. I wanted him to understand that a bad day on the court affects more than his game.

After school I picked him up and as he got in he said' "mom my tennis coach said there is money in the tennis fund to pay for the new strings." I explained that we are fortunate enough to be able to pay for it, but he would have to wait until I budgeted it in probably towards the middle of the month. And I wanted him to realize his anger was not producing good fruits.

So I came home and emailed his tennis coach to tell her just that. A few hours later this is the response I received: "Thank you for your note. I really would like to help if I can and can focus on the habit at the same time. I will honor your request but please know that this is one of the reasons that I do the fund raiser at the end of each school year. You are such an amazing family and feel that I could pay it forward to you for all the good things that you do for others. Let me know if you change your mind!"

I got up in tears. When we give to others who are reluctant to receive I always say, "Don't rob me of my blessing." Yet, I was robbing the tennis coach of hers. Not to mention that I was trying to teach Mark a lesson about anger, and God was wanting to teach a bigger lesson about always providing for us. It's a little thing--tennis strings. But God sees, and He cares.

I have been such a bad blogger these past few months, and I do not know if anyone is still reading this. But even if there isn't, I want you to know, boys, that God is with you in the mundane, the everyday stuff. And He will always work things out for His glory if we let Him. What small thing do you have to give to Him today? What tennis strings are you holding on to? I am here to say give them to God, they're broken anyway. And He longs to fix them in the sweetest most beautiful way you can imagine.