Mark 11 - All I Had

July 25, 2007 1:45-3:00

Never had much money or possessions.  Never found a really good paying job.  Fact is, seemed like any time I made some money a surprise bill came due.  Sometimes we’d save up a little and one of the children would get sick or our home would need repaired.  We never really had much.

  

On the other hand, the Lord always took care of us.  He was good to us.  We never went to bed real hungry.  Always had a roof over our heads.  Can’t complain about that.  It’s probably a good thing we had some extra money when those tough times came.  It got us through.  It took care of all our basic needs.

  

My father always taught me that what the Lord gave us was actually still his.  It wasn’t ours.  Since every good thing came from God, and most people think of money and possessions as a good thing, my dad figured they were really his too.  Now I know some people say that same thing, but with my dad it was more than a nice thought.  He meant it. He showed he meant it.  When one of the neighbors was having some rough times, I remember mom and I taking them some food.  If a visitor came to town looking hard up we’d take him in for a few days.  

Only problem I seem to remember was people trying to take advantage of dad.  But that didn’t bother him none.  He figured that was between them and the Lord.  “God will do his part, son.  He just asks us to do ours.”  He’d give to others even when most wouldn’t.  I guess that’s what set the example for me. 

 

Probably my best memory of giving came at the beginning of one of the best and worst weeks in my life.  Times were unusual hard.  There was a lot of talk about the Romans and finances.  A lot of rumors floating around that the Romans were going to crack down on us.  Plain tough times.  I owed a couple people money and a couple people owed me money. 

 

Well, it turns out that I came out of my house one afternoon early in the week and there were two men untying my colt.  Think about that. You ever had anyone just up and take your horse or donkey.  I couldn’t believe what they were doing.  Sure times was tough, but that didn’t mean you could just take what wasn’t yours.  

So when they’re almost done untying my colt I says to them as though I was just a stranger, I says, “Where you going with that colt?”  I expected them to get all embarrassed that they’d been caught.  I half expected them to run away at the sound of my voice.  But they done neither.  Instead one turns around and says,  “The Lord has need of him.”  Course they was talking about Jesus, but I didn’t know who they meant by Lord.  

“The Lord has need of him.”  I had to think about that for a moment.  Probably a lot of people would have considered one of the Romans as Lord, but I didn’t.  Pilate, Herod, Caesar - they wouldn’t have needed my mangy colt at all.  Plus, I didn’t really count any of them as my Lord.  See I only got one Lord, that’s the God of Abraham, the God of my people.  

It seemed to me as I looked at those men that they were talking about the same Lord.  They weren’t thieves, and they weren’t borrowing for no government official.  No, these men were servants of God.  

Then for a moment I thought about how tough times were.  Our family was tight on money as it was, let alone if I had to get a new colt.  I’d never be able to afford it.  Plus, if things did get worse for us I could always sell the colt for some money to keep us alive a bit longer.  “The Lord has need of him.”  At that point I couldn’t help but remember my father’s theory about who owned everything anyway.  Really that colt wasn’t mine, it was the Lord’s.  If the Lord needed his colt who was I to keep it from him.  I let the colt go.  In some ways it was one of the hardest things I ever done.  I ain’t saying that just to make yall feel bad about me or think I’m really spiritual.  It was hard, but at the same time, it was one of the easiest things I ever done.  

Sure enough, a few hours later a little boy came leading him back up to my house.  You might think I’m telling a stretcher, but after that day with the Lord I never saw that colt the same again.  He must have lived almost forty more years.  Oldest animal I ever owned.  Best one too.  You see, I didn’t have much, but when I gave the Lord what He asked for, it was the best decision of my life.  

Just makes me wonder what the Lord might want from you.