This Had To Be Written (Second Installment)

1 John 3:17,18--But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.



Philippians 4:16-18--Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.



Acts 4:32,34, and 35--Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had eveything in common...There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.



This is part two of my thoughts on money. When I initially started writing, I intended the post to be a post just expressing my thanksgiving to people who have applied the three verses above and blessed our family. Since I tend to be overly wordy (i.e. I didn't need to put the adverb "overly" in front of wordy because wordy already implies an excessive overuse of words), I had to extend it.



Let me cut to the chase. The following is a list of ways that we have seen the body of Christ apply these verses in serving us in our time of great need:

• We have had our rent paid a couple of times by anonymous people at our church this past year.


• When Pam was admitted to the hospital for what would be a two-month stay (January of 2009), someone gave the secretary of our church in Arizona an envelope written out to "the Gilchrist family." It had a ridiculous amount of cash in it. It helped us get by as Pam had to stop working. Being in the hospital usually has that effect.


• Prior to that, we had been blessed a couple of times by generous people from Grace Bible Church of Tempe with surprise checks in the mail.


• God was pleased even to use the staff at Mesquite High School to provide meals and support while Pam was in the hospital and after Isaiah came home.


• When Pam was in the hospital and after Isaiah was born, we received a ridiculous amount of support from the body at GBC. Meals, childcare, coffee, help moving, women visiting Pam in the hospital, etc. I could never thank the people of GBC enough for loving our family and making our need their need. That is Acts 4 in beautiful progress. I am confident and aware that the same love is still being shown to others who have need at GBC. I do miss you all and long so much for the day when we can afford to take a trip down to the AZ to fellowship with you again.


• People all over the world prayed for Isaiah as he was born three months premature. When doctors and physical therapists today look at him with wonder in their eyes, this points to God's miraculous power and reinforces the truth that the prayers of the righteous do accomplish much. Thank you for your prayers.


• Regarding prayer, we were so blessed to be a part of a smaller church body in Arizona that would pray for the needs of people in the church specifically during corporate prayer. Moving back to Spokane and a larger church, I knew I was going to miss that. However, Faith Bible Church is a collective warrior when it comes to praying for the needs of those within the body. I have made it a point to fill out prayer cards for the prayer ministry, and it is such an encouragment when people whom I don't know particularly well tell me that they are praying for me and my family. Thank you to all of you who have prayed for a good job for me; I would greatly appreciate you perseverance in this.


• Both my parents and Pam's parents have helped us greatly financially and materially.


• We continue to receive anonymous gifts from people. We came home from youth group two weeks ago and found an envelope filled with cash on our doorstep. What I am learning to appreciate about people who give anonymously, other than the fact that they don't want any recognition, is the way that it should encourage the recipient to not be bitter toward anyone because that object of bitterness might be the person who blessed the recipient.


• Our church has graciously helped us finacially.


• Our landlords continue to give us a ridiculously nice deal on our rent for the best house that I have ever lived in as an adult.


• Our small group leaders, my wife's aunt, and my parents have given us so much food over the past year. It is such a blessing because we love food.


• We have been blessed with clothing for our big five-year-old.


• Our big five-year-old was showered with love and gifts on his fifth birthday. This was a huge blessing to him, but I felt just as blessed.


• People have given us gift cards which have enabled us to do a number of things: go out on our anniversary; go out on a date at South Perry Pizza; take our family to see Toy Story 3.


• A good number of people have encouraged me with gracious words during this long and difficult time. They don't look down on me. They see me trying to do everything that I can to find work and provide for my family. They remind me of truth and affirm that God is sanctifying me through this. Such encouragement is priceless in a society that determines people's value on people's financial portfolios and career success.

I am sure that I have left off some things because we have "received full payment" and have been "well supplied" as it says in Philippians 4. God has used our weakness to glorify Himself in the body of Christ. What a marvelous and mysterious providence! To God be the glory.

I long for the day when I can bless people the way that they have blessed us with the "world's goods." That day has not come yet. So, my prayer before I publish this post is that this will be a gift to many of you who have blessed us. God has used my weakness and humiliation as an opportunity for friends and family to put those three verses posted above into practice. I rejoice in people who choose to have humble hearts and view the needs of others as their own needs. That is amazing.

It is probably strange how vulnerable I choose to be in the way I write. Perhaps I should be more reserved and cautious in what I write. Maybe I am making myself look like a poor, time-wasting, self-pitying bum. Well, I do hope that the day comes when the job situation has changed and our family doesn't have to depend on so much financial help, but I am fully confident that I will always need the body of Christ. I will never have it all together. I will always need your prayers and support, whether it be spiritual or material. That is why I write the way I do.

So, to those of you who have ever helped people in your church by praying for them, making them a meal, helping them financially, or by giving whatever you can give, your help is "a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God." The love of God abides in you. And, you are of "one heart and soul" with the saints.

Thank you!

This Had To Be Written (Thoughts on Money)

When it comes to my family's financial needs, God has never failed to come through. Never!

Psalm 24:1 says that the earth is the Lord's and all it contains. My sinful heart says, "The amount in my bank account, or lack thereof, is mine and all it does or does not contain." With this attitude, my disposition and identity are dependent on how much money I have or don't have.

If I humble my heart prayerfully and acknowledge that it all belongs to God, I am free from feeling either pride, complacency, or shame based on my bank account. My confidence and boast are solely in the Lord.

The Holy Spirit has revealed to me how self-reliant I am when it comes to money. I have felt a lot of shame that I haven't made a decent income lately. I am constantly reminded of the verse that says that the man who doesn't provide for his family has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. I do not think that verse applies to me because I am truly trying. However, I am still tempted to think that the words do describe me. But this perspective changes when I stop looking at God through a lens of self-reliance.

When I was working as a teacher and making more money than I am making now, I rarely thought about how my needs were being provided by the Lord. I was applying my hard-earned college degree to work a job that required long hours and much dedication. But who gave me the strength, life, breath, and intelligence to earn that degree? Who kept my heart beating so that I could wake up every morning and drive to work?
Trip Lee's new album has a song called "Limitations." In the last verse of this song, Trip Lee says, "I know some people who ain't poor. They cruisin,' thinking, "Work hard!" but if the Lord ain't movin'..." He says a line or two later, "They should trust the Lord who supports they doin.'"

We have a tendency to rob the Lord of His due honor for creating us and giving us the ability to work and make a living. Instead, we just coast or find ourselves "cruisin'" like Trip Lee says, taking for granted that there is a loving and gracious God enabling us and blessing our lives. Or, even worse, we become arrogant and proud of our accomplishments, and we allow people to put us up on pillars because we seem to have it all together when it comes to the little god, money.



Only by God's grace and by the power of the Holy Spirit can I stop taking the Lord's hand in all of the affairs of my life for granted. It is my prayer that this becomes a reality for me and for all of us who call ourselves Christians.

I have so much more to write about this topic and so much praise to give God for never failing to come through. I will call this entry the first installment.

Talking about God coming through is really close to sounding irreverant. Instead, I will say that God, before the foundations of the earth, has had it all handled. "All" includes money (see Psalm 24:1).

I pray that this blesses and encourages you to give praise to the Creator, Maker, and Sustainer.

Year in Review (First Year in Spokane)

It has been a very long time since I wrote anything here. I won't make any specific promises, but I would like to start doing more with my blog(s) and less with facebook.

Today is my son's fifth birthday. He is such a tremendous blessing:

• I see the Lord working in his tender heart.



• He starts kindergarten in less than a month.



• I am starting to read a little out of the book of Proverbs with him each day in the hope that he will become a young boy of wisdom, wisdom that can only come from the Lord.



• He loves to read and is a good memorizer.



• He does amazing impersonations. Unfortunately for his mom, he has his daddy's sense of humor.

• He has a real heart of compassion; for instance, he will not leave his and his brother's bedroom in the morning until we come to get them because he knows that his little brother will get upset if he is left in his crib alone. Though he tends to idolize a daily group of toys/objects, I have seen him give up one of those items when his little brother is upset.



• He loves his younger sister as well and seems to have a sense of sadness when they are not together.

• Now, if we could just get him to overcome his terror of dogs and blueberries.

The rest of the family is doing well. In fact, I am daily blown away by the fact that God would bless me with such living extensions of grace in my corner as I fight the fight of faith.

Life has definitely been a fight. Circumstantially, though many good things have come, I am having an awful run at it. I have not been able to find work to provide for my family, yet I worked a great number of 50-60 hour weeks. Both of my jobs (subbing and custodial) shut down for the summer. I have been turned down for a couple prospective teaching jobs for which I and many others prayed heavily. That always hurts!

Still, God always provides some way. However, I have to constantly kill off the lies in my mind that tell me that I am not a man, that I am cursed, or that my family deserves a better husband and father. I have had a few gracious and godly people remind me that I am doing everything that I can and that God is using this to grow me in tremendous ways.

This is not meant to sound arrogant at all, but I get teary-eyed when people talk about how they see God working. I think this is because it humbles me. It humbles me because I often think that life has become pointless and that no matter what I do, and no matter what dream I pursue, things are going to remain hard. I am prone to pessimism and grumbling, and when I reflect on my heart during this almost two-year trial, I am honestly ashamed.

Nevertheless, I am blessed by the encouragement because the words are true. God is doing a work. God is using this to sanctify me and mature me. I am encouraged because it is all God's doing. His power is displayed in weakness. He holds me in his grip when my heart has all but thrown in the towel (2 Corinthians 12; 1 Peter 1:5). No one or nothing can snatch me from his hand. No one or nothing can separate me from his love.

Tomorrow, I am going to go into a temping agency, hoping that I can find steady employment eventually. Maybe I will end up working in the office of a paper company with a clueless boss who really thinks the world of me.

Seriously though, I have no idea what direction my life is headed career-wise and financially, but there are a few things I know: God's love is great. I want to proclaim and show that love to my family, my church, my friends, and to the lost.