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| Thai friends have taught me a lot about generosity |
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| Generous neighbors sharing Kao Lam, coconut milk sticky rice cooked in bamboo over a fire |
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| Tiida and her son David |
"Generous people generate things.
And, consequently, their worlds are more varied, surprising, colorful, fruitful. They're richer.
More abounds with them, and yet they have a greater thirst and deeper capacity to take it all in.
The world delights the generous but seldom overwhelms them."
-Author unknown
Greetings from Thailand!
One of the weird things about being a missionary, or anyone who aims to help others improve their lives is that we are constantly in the position, or at least the posture of a beggar.
We are always asking for help, in order to help.
I do not naturally like this feeling.
I prefer to feel independent, self-sufficient, and to not have to assume a humble posture of need.
One danger I have observed for those who have to stay in this place of dependence on others is that gratitude can slowly morph into entitlement.
More to the point, we can come to erroneous belief that we are merely recipients of generosity, rather than agents of generosity.
I heard a great sermon on this by a Thai pastor last week.
He reminded us that the people Paul holds up as an example of generosity in the Bible were quite poor.
What I also noticed was that need was only part of the reason for giving.
Generosity itself, for the giver, was a source of great joy and interest.
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| A generous supply of flowers |
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| Peter & Dada before moving to Austrailia |
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| Celebrating God's generosity |
My friend Matt shared the quote at the top of this page with me after a similar conversation over dinner.
My heart was shouting: "Yes! Yes, that is exactly right!"
When I encounter bored or unhappy people, almost inevitably they live in a small, self-centered world.
They are not overwhelmed so much as suffocating.
Their world is not too big or even too bad, but too small.
A generous spirit opens up endless possibilities for enjoyment.
One of the most sensible guides I have ever heard for finding happiness in life,
is to try to learn how to enjoy the largest possible variety of things.
If I enjoy the sun, I can enjoy sunny days.
If I enjoy the snow I can enjoy snowy days.
If I learn to appreciate and enjoy all the various kinds of weather,
I am more like to be happy more often.
Now apply that principle to all of life.
Generosity generates things, it is creative and productive.
It is a mistake to define wealth merely in terms of numbers in bank accounts.
A healthy person is rich compared to a sick person.
A man with a loving family is rich compared to a man with an unhappy family.
A man who has freedom with his time and schedule is rich,
compared to a workaholic with a higher salary.
We need to reconsider what we mean by these words generosity and wealth.
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| Case meetings every month |
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| We deliver a lot of rice thanks to your generosity |
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| Always time for a day on the river |
Have you ever watched the home tours of the rich and famous on tv?
It can be fun, but when you think about it, one thing they all seem to lack is creativity.
They hire the same interior decorators
(because they can't think of what they themselves like).
They buy the same exotic cars and clothes.
(but rarely drive them or wear them)
Riches without generosity grow stagnant and boring.
You can only buy so many purses, so many cars, so many things.
But generosity with resources only grows more varied and lively.
Life is more surprising, colorful, and fruitful.
Generosity brings us into new experiences, and new relationships and new interests.
It is the result of something important we have learned about the world
and the God who made the world:
There is abundance!
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| Reading everywhere we go |
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| Swimming with friends |
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| 100 Days of School |
We are prone to think of everything in terms of scarcity (not enough).
What another gains, is our loss.
Not enough money,
not enough time,
not enough for retirement, etc.
We do this in economics and politics too,
assuming that one person's gain must come at the expense of another.
But it is often not the case.
One of the mysteries and miracles of the free market is that a rising tide often does lift all ships.
Imagine if we start from an assumption of abundance, rather than scarcity, think how it might change our lives.
What if we could share freely, give gladly, without any fear of there not being enough?
Yet, this is exactly what God has invited us to do!
Truly generous people often have found that the more they gave away, the more that came to them.
Not only in financial terms, but relationships, hobbies, and interests of all kinds.
Proverbs says this:
"One person gives freely, yet gains even more;
another withholds what he should give, but comes to poverty."
The first person has a perspective of abundance.
"The more I give away, the richer my life becomes!"
The second person has a perspective of scarcity:
"I'd better be careful, play it safe and see to my needs."
But there is no scarcity in God's economy.
Jesus said as much in Luke 6:
"Give, and it will be given to you.
A good measure, pressed down,
shaken together and running over,
will be poured into your lap.
For with the measure you use,
it will be measured to you.”
This principle runs through the Bible, give away and you will gain.
You become truly rich in the same way you become truly happy,
not by hoarding, but by sharing.
Richer not just with money, but with all of the wonderful variety of life.
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| Chai, one of our boys from Faithful chose to get baptized |
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| The generosity of nature |
More abounds with the generous, and all the time, our capacity to enjoy more and more of life is growing along with our generosity.
In other words, generosity helps us learn to enjoy more and more of life, and the world becomes more and more delightful and interesting to us.
Let me give an example from my own life.
When we moved to Thailand in 2015, we were thinking about what God had made me for,
and what He was calling me to do.
But I was also thinking about kids---helping vulnerable and orphaned children to have the same opportunities and blessings I had.
Audrey and I put our time and energy, and money into that task.
My assumption was that the children would benefit,
but that I would lose.
I was the Giver I thought, and they were the Receivers.
But what caught me off guard was how much I benefited too.
First, in the fascinating variety of Thailand and Thai culture that enriched my own culture and life.
Second, in the wonderful new friendships I was forming with Thai people.
Third, in the endless variety of joys and challenges that I entered into when I began to love and take an interest in these kids.
Life was more interesting with all of their joys and trials.
Tired I have been, weary I have been, but never bored.
Lastly, in our own finances.
After a few years, Audrey and I set a goal to try to increase our giving every year.
It was a little scary sometimes.
Sometimes it meant not doing things we might otherwise have done or wanted to do.
But we had the advantage of seeing the faces of the people we were helping up close.
It is true that we often become more interested in what we are financially invested in
("where your treasure is, there your heart will be also").
I started to notice that we seemed to have more money than we did before.
We kept increasing our giving each year, and somehow, we kept having more of it.
We made some investments here on behalf of Faithful Heart and our Thai church,
which later opened up new opportunities to invest.
Here is the point: life has never been so interesting or so fulfilling.
And it was giving away what we had, that often led us to receive those greater interests and joys.
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| College Dorm Dinner |
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| Celebrating Pim's graduation |
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| Celebrating Ruth's Graduation |
Don't misunderstand me, there have been and continue to be hard, discouraging things in our lives.
But we are trying to live a Kingdom life---a life filled with God's own life---and that means a life invested in others.
Because God is the First and Largest Giver (and the most frequent).
He has given us all things, even and most astonishing of all,
He has given us Himself.
This is the story of Easter.
He is extravagant in His giving, overflowing from the abundance that is His nature, His love.
To have God's generosity in us, is to have His joy in us,
and to have His joy in us, is the cure for all that ails us.
If you are board, or unhappy, can I suggest an unconventional cure?
Give more.
Give your money.
Give your time.
Give your talent.
Open your hearts and your hands to others, and see what God does in your life along the way.
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| Generous gifts :-) |
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| Good builders |
Need some help getting started?
Shameless plug:
Faithful Heart Foundation is a great group of people helping a lot of children in need.
See how you can share in the joy of this work:
www.faithfulheartfoundation.org
Do you love adoption?
You can partner with Connie's Home to help young children get adopted into families.
https://fcfthailand.org/portfolio/connies-home/
Do you care about justice, and want to help people been deprived of legal ID and are vulnerable to exploitation?
You can partner with Jojo's Sanctuary that helps fight for those who are stateless.
Give to your church.
Give to those going through a hard time.
Give fun gifts.
Give good memories.
Give delicious food.
Give quality time.
Be generous, like God is.
Take a look at what you have, and ask yourself seriously:
What could be more rewarding, more interesting, more fun than partnering with God to redeem the world?
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| One of our boys returned to his family this month It was a hard day for all of us |
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| Faithful Heart was able to sell a piece of land to a Thai Church |
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| Celebrating Rhoda's graduation |
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| Lao graduated middle school and heads to vocational school to be an electrician |
What is holding us back?
Fear of the future?
A feeling of scarcity---not having enough?
Remember the Macedonians:
"In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.
Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people."
-2 Cor. 8:2-4
Because giving is a privilege.
It is also a source of joy and a cure for boredom
and the unhappiness of living merely for ourselves.
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| We have a generous amount of sunshine in Thailand, now we can put it to work! |
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| All these graduations! |
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| Lots of good food too! |
"Remember this:
Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously... for God loves a cheerful giver.
And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
As it is written:
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever...”
You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion,
and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."
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| Book Character parade |
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| Night lights |
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| Sharing Good News |
