Personal at the End of Year

This past year has been pretty devastating for a lot of people around the world, as the following article shows:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081231/ap_on_re_as/world_new_year

There is talk of many bankruptcies and store closings across America, as well as around the world. When people don't have enough money to buy merchandise, stores must close.

I will be watching how the churches fare in the coming year, particularly the mega-churches and television evangelists, who are committed to large budgets and who spend virtually every dollar they receive on expensive television productions. Most of them also have a CEO mentality, where they believe that they "deserve" multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses. Even a 10% downturn in contributions could bring them quickly into bankruptcy. Some are already there.

I do want to thank all of you for your support this past year. Many of you have used the "Donation" button on the web site, contributing through PayPal. Others have just sent checks through the mail. Though we do not normally acknowledge those receipts during the year, we will do so in January when we send out contribution receipts. Thank-you all for your generous support, which makes this outreach possible.

Quite a few of you were very generous to us in December this past month. I appreciate this very much, since January and February are traditionally rather "lean" months. Your generosity will get us through the next couple of months with no problem, I'm sure.

We worship a God of ironies, not only because He wields "a rod of iron," but also because He seems to delight in making a situation impossible before providing the solution--and making it look easy. Like Israel at the Red Sea. Now He has indicated that He will provide in a greater way than ever before in the coming year, in order that the Gospel of the Kingdom may go out in a greater way. The fact that 2009 looks very bleak for most people simply confirms to me that my understanding is correct. It is just like God to give abundance at the most unlikely time. It is His way of letting us know that HE is the One doing it all.