Back in the year 2000, after being at Urban Saints (then Crusaders) for just a few weeks, I ‘discovered’ that we were going to have to spend tens of thousands of pounds replacing the rotten windows in our Grade 2 listed office building in St Albans.
This was not budgeted for – which meant that, in my first year of leading the organisation, I was facing a deficit budget of over £30,000! This was not the first impression I was hoping to make!
Amidst our prayers for miracles, and requests for additional funding, we battened down the hatches and embraced a season of austerity, making savings wherever we could to see the situation change. I remember our Graphic Designer coming to me asking if he could spend £250 on an external CD ROM writer (remember this was the year 2000!). I reluctantly sent him away with a ‘sad face’, having declined his request.
I drove home that Friday feeling fairly disappointed and frustrated – even with God. That disappointment lingered into the Saturday as I headed in to town for some shopping, and to pick up a failed delivery package. As I headed to the Post Office, I can still remember saying to God…
“God! You’ve set me up! I just left a high paid role at One2One where we didn’t worry about this stuff and now I’m looking a huge deficit in my first year. What’s going on? Where are you?”
I arrived at the Post Office, handed them the card, and was duly given a shoebox size package. Returning to my car, still murmuring under my breath, I decided to see ‘what was in the box’ before I headed back home. Upon opening it, I discovered it was… and you’ll never believe this… a brand new external CD ROM writer – sent to me by an ex-colleague from my One2One days who is not a Christian but, for reasons he later couldn’t explain, suddenly felt the urge a few days earlier to send me a brand new external CD ROM writer.
Weird, for sure! But mostly, wonderful!
And in that moment, when I saw what was in the package, I heard the whisper of the Father say, “Matt, I’ve got you. You can trust me! I’ll provide.’
And he did provide! Although we still did end the year with a slight deficit – AND it was nothing like what happened the following year, but I’ll tell you about that another time.
You can trust God today! He knows you. He knows your need. Nothing surprises Him. Jesus doesn’t just care for you – He promises to take care of you. May we all grow in trusting Him.
