A Bus and a Refrigerator

Our old church shuttle bus needed a carburetor we could not find on the island, but we found a new missionary, Tim Schmitt, here who knows how to rebuild them.

Our town has very narrow streets and the shuttle bus was impractical here anyway, so we decided to let him have it as a missionary gift to his work. The bus was given to us and only has cost us about $400 so far, mostly in permits and registration. Pastor Tim suggested that his church was likely to cover that cost for us.

I would rather see that bus being used for the Lord than sitting around here, so putting it into the hands of a specially gifted-mechanic missionary seemed the right thing to do.

The rusty old refrigerator at the church broke down last week. We decided to give our own refrigerator to the church and get ourselves a replacement for it. Saturday we hope to sand and repaint the fridge we are donating so the church will have a nice looking appliance in the kitchen. Here in the humid tropics they rust quickly, so a little elbow grease is what we will be applying to it before we move it in.

Here is an article I came across on spending and being spent for God:

… I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. - 2 Corinthians 12:15 KJV

It was Paul’s delight to spend his life for God’s interests in other people, and he did not care what it cost. But before we will serve, we stop to ponder our personal and financial concerns—

What if God wants me to go over there? And what about my salary? What is the climate like there? Who will take care of me? A person must consider all these things.

All that is an indication that we have reservations about serving God.

But the apostle Paul had no conditions or reservations. Paul focused his life on Jesus Christ’s idea of a New Testament saint; that is, not one who merely proclaims the gospel, but one who becomes broken bread and poured-out wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for the sake of others.

Oswald Chambers (http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php?day=25&month=02