GOD PROVIDES

My first placement more than 30 years ago was as a lay missionary in Indonesian Timor. Together with my wife and our four month old baby we boarded a flight to Denpasar and then Kupang with around 50 kilos of luggage and nothing much more. The rest of our belongings were to follow by sea. But they were held up in Surabaya for 12 months because we could not afford to pay the fees (bribes) to get them off the docks. It was a case of literally living out of our suitcases for the first year.

At that time the Uniting Church required us to live on a stipend equivalent to what our Timorese colleagues received. That was pretty minimal.

Our commitment was for five years without home leave. We had no telephone while the electricity was intermittent and our only water supply came from a single tap in the backyard.

Bouts of dengue fever together with numerous infections and a very serious burn to my daughter kept us on our toes. Meanwhile, our time in Timor meant we missed my sister’s wedding together with many other significant family events.

But, in all of this, God was good. God was very good to us!

While my wife and I came home to Australia basically broke, our five years in Timor were the greatest gift we could have ever received. Here we experienced life in another culture, we learnt much about Indonesia, became fluent in another language and were part of a vital, growing church. Most importantly, it was here that we really discovered what it means to depend wholly on God.

And, in all of this, God did provide!

As you consider God’s call on your life remember this – whatever God requires of you, whatever God calls you to do, indeed whatever God asks you to give, either through your time, your talents or your weekly offering – God will provide – God will always present you with the means to do it.

So, friends, in your living and in your giving – be generous to others. And most importantly – be generous to God.

For, in our living and in our giving, the God we worship and the God in whom we depend is a God who constantly and most assuredly provides for everything that is asked of us and for everything we need!

John Barr