When I was in Waterloo, Iowa, I thought my property taxes were high. They were about $1,000 a year for a four bedroom, two and a half bath, two story house on a quarter acre. When we moved to a new state in 2009, I was pretty upset with my bank at allowing me to get a mortgage that was more than I could afford... again. I was upset at my last bank for allowing me to max out my spending, being young myself and my first house and not realizing what it would do to my budget. Then when it happened a second time I was annoyed at both my bank and myself. But then I realized, it wasn't my mortgage, it was my township! The mortgage was actually perfectly reasonable, but my property taxes were ridiculous. I bought a new house in 2009 (built less than two years earlier) and the taxes were $4,000. Then the next year they doubled to $8,000. Then the next year they went up to $9,000, this year they went up again, and next year if they increase by even 1.2% then they'll pass $10,000. Ahhh!!! (This is for a four bedroom, two and three quarter bath, ranch house on less than a quarter acre.)
However, that's just background, it's not the point of this post. The point is how God proves His involvement and concern in our lives in His own, subtle ways. This year our federal income taxes were $3,095 and our state were $3,303. I'm not telling you this so you can reverse calculate my income, nor so you'll feel sorry for me, but the details really matter here, so stick with me. Also remember in December how I posted that we were blessed to be able to sell stock and pay off our mortgage. The last sale was intentionally larger than needed to pay off the mortgage and all the excess was saved for the inevitable taxes. The amount leftover was $4,396.95. Also in April, my grandma gave me a $2,000 check (it's been too long and I forgot to write down why). So let's do the math: 3095+3303-4396.95-2000 = $1.05. One dollar??? Surplus??? God is saying, despite all circumstances, "I'll take care of you!"
That's not the only time this has happened in the last few months. But first I want to point out that I'm absolutely not a health and wealth preacher. God does not have a goal to make all Christians rich, and He doesn't promise health or prosperity to all His followers. He does give us guidelines for how to live, saying that in general, if we take His advice then our lives will go well. He does say His preference is for us to be prosperous (Jeremiah 29:11) however God also is obsessed with free will. He is generous to the good and the evil among us (Matthew 5:45) and if we choose to be evil, then that will have consequences for everyone (and everything) around us, and the Christians aren't exempt from that (John 15:18-19).
So another way this happened since tax season was my car. I was working at the office on a warm and sunny day and left my windows down when I parked in the parking lot. Near the end of the day I started hearing some strange noise while in the office and wondered what it was. Honestly, I didn't recognize it as rain because it was pouring down so hard and so thick and in such defined waves that it didn't sound like rain, it sounded like something running across the building. When I realized it was rain I immediately thought of my open windows and "oh great." Fortunately for me, the rain stopped before I left the office. As I walked to my car through the drenched parking lot, I thought surely my seat would be soaked, and so would my daughter's car seat (I happened to be picking her up tonight). As I approached the car, I saw the windows still open, as I had left them, and beads of water on all surfaces. But as I opened the door, the seats were dry. All of them. All four windows on my car were down, leaving at least an inch opening each. I was parked facing south, and two people told me later (not to mention my own observations from inside my office) that the rain was coming down sideways from the east. There's no way my car interior could be dry without a miracle from God. God was again reminding me that "I'll take care of you."
Another side note, when I hear from God that He'll take care of me, I again don't believe in health and wealth. So when I hear Him say that, two days ago it meant He'd take care of my taxes. Yesterday it meant He'd keep my car dry. Tomorrow it might mean even though I'm being tortured for Christ, even if I die from the persecution, God will still take care of my soul and can manage my family just fine without me. Obviously this isn't a pleasant thought, but it's important to acknowledge.
A third way this happened recently was at the beginning of our vacation. I typed this up in China two weeks ago (China blocks anyone from accessing this website so I couldn't post what I'd typed) while there on business, and the prior two weeks I was on vacation with my family. We had a great American vacation and packed up the car and drove cross country to visit the nation's capital, and a couple other places along the way. We drove and camped in tents wherever we wished in great American freedom. The first stop we made was at the Creation Museum, just outside Cincinnati. This was my wife's and my fourth visit to the museum, and our kids' third. It was an eight our drive from home to the museum. I filled up on gas in our home town just before getting on the highway (and after dropping off some books at the library), and reset the trip odometer. I didn't think about gas until the next morning. As we got into the car and turned the ignition, I checked the fuel gauge. It didn't move. About thirty seconds after being in motion the fuel empty warning light came on. Obviously we went straight for the nearest gas station. The trip odometer read 410 miles, which is about as far (not farther) as we've ever gone with a single tank. And that with a 125% full trunk and a big bulky two seat stroller strapped on top of the roof (creating drag that God apparently dismissed in order for us to tie our gas mileage record). Just as obvious, if our drive had been even ten miles longer, we would have run out of gas and had a much different experience on our first night of our two week vacation. Praise God for divine timing!
Fourth and lastly (for now), the next leg of our trip had a similar experience. The next leg was from Cincinnati, Ohio to Dover, Delaware. Our map program said this would take nine hours. We left around 9am and at 5pm it was becoming clear we weren't going to make it in 9 hours. We called the campground and they said as long as we were there by 10pm, then there'd be someone to help us in. My wife was estimating that we'd get there by 7 and that should be fine. We made no extra stops and took no scenic routes and drove the speed limit the whole way, and we pulled into the campground at, no joke, 9:59pm. Would the world have ended if we pulled in at 10:01pm? No. But this was another way of God saying "I'll take care of you," and just as importantly, it's His way of saying "you can trust me for both the big stuff and the small stuff" (John 3:12). Just as important, by allowing me to write this blog post, He's not only saying it to me, but He's saying it to you, too.
However, that's just background, it's not the point of this post. The point is how God proves His involvement and concern in our lives in His own, subtle ways. This year our federal income taxes were $3,095 and our state were $3,303. I'm not telling you this so you can reverse calculate my income, nor so you'll feel sorry for me, but the details really matter here, so stick with me. Also remember in December how I posted that we were blessed to be able to sell stock and pay off our mortgage. The last sale was intentionally larger than needed to pay off the mortgage and all the excess was saved for the inevitable taxes. The amount leftover was $4,396.95. Also in April, my grandma gave me a $2,000 check (it's been too long and I forgot to write down why). So let's do the math: 3095+3303-4396.95-2000 = $1.05. One dollar??? Surplus??? God is saying, despite all circumstances, "I'll take care of you!"
That's not the only time this has happened in the last few months. But first I want to point out that I'm absolutely not a health and wealth preacher. God does not have a goal to make all Christians rich, and He doesn't promise health or prosperity to all His followers. He does give us guidelines for how to live, saying that in general, if we take His advice then our lives will go well. He does say His preference is for us to be prosperous (Jeremiah 29:11) however God also is obsessed with free will. He is generous to the good and the evil among us (Matthew 5:45) and if we choose to be evil, then that will have consequences for everyone (and everything) around us, and the Christians aren't exempt from that (John 15:18-19).
So another way this happened since tax season was my car. I was working at the office on a warm and sunny day and left my windows down when I parked in the parking lot. Near the end of the day I started hearing some strange noise while in the office and wondered what it was. Honestly, I didn't recognize it as rain because it was pouring down so hard and so thick and in such defined waves that it didn't sound like rain, it sounded like something running across the building. When I realized it was rain I immediately thought of my open windows and "oh great." Fortunately for me, the rain stopped before I left the office. As I walked to my car through the drenched parking lot, I thought surely my seat would be soaked, and so would my daughter's car seat (I happened to be picking her up tonight). As I approached the car, I saw the windows still open, as I had left them, and beads of water on all surfaces. But as I opened the door, the seats were dry. All of them. All four windows on my car were down, leaving at least an inch opening each. I was parked facing south, and two people told me later (not to mention my own observations from inside my office) that the rain was coming down sideways from the east. There's no way my car interior could be dry without a miracle from God. God was again reminding me that "I'll take care of you."
Another side note, when I hear from God that He'll take care of me, I again don't believe in health and wealth. So when I hear Him say that, two days ago it meant He'd take care of my taxes. Yesterday it meant He'd keep my car dry. Tomorrow it might mean even though I'm being tortured for Christ, even if I die from the persecution, God will still take care of my soul and can manage my family just fine without me. Obviously this isn't a pleasant thought, but it's important to acknowledge.
A third way this happened recently was at the beginning of our vacation. I typed this up in China two weeks ago (China blocks anyone from accessing this website so I couldn't post what I'd typed) while there on business, and the prior two weeks I was on vacation with my family. We had a great American vacation and packed up the car and drove cross country to visit the nation's capital, and a couple other places along the way. We drove and camped in tents wherever we wished in great American freedom. The first stop we made was at the Creation Museum, just outside Cincinnati. This was my wife's and my fourth visit to the museum, and our kids' third. It was an eight our drive from home to the museum. I filled up on gas in our home town just before getting on the highway (and after dropping off some books at the library), and reset the trip odometer. I didn't think about gas until the next morning. As we got into the car and turned the ignition, I checked the fuel gauge. It didn't move. About thirty seconds after being in motion the fuel empty warning light came on. Obviously we went straight for the nearest gas station. The trip odometer read 410 miles, which is about as far (not farther) as we've ever gone with a single tank. And that with a 125% full trunk and a big bulky two seat stroller strapped on top of the roof (creating drag that God apparently dismissed in order for us to tie our gas mileage record). Just as obvious, if our drive had been even ten miles longer, we would have run out of gas and had a much different experience on our first night of our two week vacation. Praise God for divine timing!
Fourth and lastly (for now), the next leg of our trip had a similar experience. The next leg was from Cincinnati, Ohio to Dover, Delaware. Our map program said this would take nine hours. We left around 9am and at 5pm it was becoming clear we weren't going to make it in 9 hours. We called the campground and they said as long as we were there by 10pm, then there'd be someone to help us in. My wife was estimating that we'd get there by 7 and that should be fine. We made no extra stops and took no scenic routes and drove the speed limit the whole way, and we pulled into the campground at, no joke, 9:59pm. Would the world have ended if we pulled in at 10:01pm? No. But this was another way of God saying "I'll take care of you," and just as importantly, it's His way of saying "you can trust me for both the big stuff and the small stuff" (John 3:12). Just as important, by allowing me to write this blog post, He's not only saying it to me, but He's saying it to you, too.