I'm Rich!

Meet Ernie.

Or as he’s come to be known this year “FHL Ernie” – short for “Faith, Hope & Love Ernie”.

Ernie’s been a part of the family for almost 11 years.  We’ve logged just over 236,000 miles now.  We’ve replaced nearly everything but the engine and a few non-essentials like the windshield wiper fluid squirter-thingy – if I hit a mud puddle things get kind of interesting, and the radio antennae that no longer goes up and down – just makes a whining noise every time you turn the car on.

But for 11 years and 236,000 miles, Ernie’s been a good car.  Sadly I almost gave Ernie up last year.  We had decided we were ready to move on and were saving for a new fancy car.  That’s when things took an interesting turn.  Cross Point launched our “Faith, Hope & Love” initiative to raise over $2 million dollars for the launch of our Bellevue Campus and the opening of our Hope Centers.  As we prayed about what we could give, I began to wrestle with the fact that I didn’t need a new car.  While Ernie’s kind of a gamble every day I drive it, it still runs.  It still gets me where I need to go every day.  I needed to postpone a “want” in order to give more generously to a “need” – a need to create environments (and open seats) where people can be reached with the hope of Christ.

Our “Be Rich” series has been an important reminder to me of how quickly my perspective gets skewed.  A year ago I was begging my husband for a new car.  I was mad and borderline resentful that I was still driving beat up old Ernie.  Today I’m grateful for every day that Ernie still runs.  With every day and every month that passes, I know I’ve used my resources to support a need so much greater than my own.

Let me assure you though, most days my perspective is way off.  I forget that I’m truly rich – that God has blessed me tremendously; that compared to the majority of the world I have more than I’ll ever need… and then some.  I hate that I lose site of that.  I hate the feelings of entitlement that I wrestle with on nearly a daily basis.  I hate the comparison game that I constantly play.

I want to learn to be generous, to be grateful – to be rich!

How about you?

Is there an area of your life that you take for granted God’s blessing and abundance?