At JIFF (Jubilee International Filipino Fellowship) we've just started a month long emphasis on money. The members of our church earn less than US $500/month. They have left their families to work in HK because of poverty. Learning to manage money in a godly way is essential. Last Sunday when we started the series, I gave them a pop quiz. One of the questions was:
"I have a broken relationship (family or friend) because of money issues. (T/F).
I think almost everyone there answered yes. This week our homework is simply to track our income and expenses, a fairly simple thing, right? After the service one of our members, Rosie, came up to me and showed me her notebook. Here is the essence of what she said:
"Pastor, is this what you mean?" Her notebook had a detailed record of all of her spending. "I was so happy when you passed out the expense record sheet," she went on. "My employer taught me to do this." (We encourage HK Chinese employers to teach their helpers about money, because they are fantastic manager's of money. This employer took my request seriously.) "My employer taught me how to save money by finding bargains, avoiding name brands, etc. and then she had me save the savings in the bank." Here's the kicker. Rosie went on, "My savings saved the life of my brother." Her brother had acute appendicitis. In the Philippines the hospitals will let you die rather than treat you if you don't have money. Because Rosie had saved up money, she was able to wire it immediately to the hospital, who then took out her brother's ruptured appendix. They told her, "a delay of one day and your brother would have been dead."
This is the reality of the lives of most of our church members. Many of them have had family members die of preventable illnesses because they have no money. When an American suffers a stroke, we often recover because we get immediate and adequate health care. In the Philippines stroke victims spend the rest of their lives without the use of half of their bodies, being cared for by family members.
One of the big questions people have is "Does God care about me and my family?" "Does He have anything to say about money?
Our church and ministry is highly gospel centric. We are seeing many people come to Christ and become dedicated followers of Jesus. We will not move "off center", but our members desperately need to learn what the Bible says about how to view and handle money. I hope you'll pray for us this month.
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Ione and I are travelling to the States on Aug 11th. We'll be in the Washington, Oregon area until the end of September. We are planning to visit a few churches, go the home office for some debriefing, and get some much need R & R with our family. Before we leave in 10 days we have around 3 weeks worth of work to do! Please pray for us. Our stress level is through the roof.
A NOTE OF PRAISE: Our grandson, Ethan, age 10, was admitted to International Christian School here in HK. It is difficult to get in, with long waiting lists, and we are grateful to God for this answered prayer.
