On Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at Fellowship Church in Holden, Massachusetts, we decided we were going to put a big decision into our own hands. We gave every adult who attended Sundaymorning@fellowship a bit of cash to make this decision:
“What is the ‘absolutely best thing’ (most loving decision) to do with this money?”
And then each person, in order to take the money, had to answer this question, then act on that answer.
Please share your story of how you used the money that was given to you in the most loving way here.
What did you do to prepare yourself for the decision?
Did you use the money inside or outside of your family?
Was this decision a hard one?
pastormarty
jeffsdeepthoughts
billydotcom
steveblumer
Heidi H said,
July 6, 2008 at 11:55 pm
I gave my money to provide fresh water and sanitation in Africa. I decided to use the money in this way because my heart goes out to the homeless and impoverished. While there are probably homeless people in this area that need the money, I like to remind myself that the world is bigger than New England, or the US, and that people living in other countries are God’s people too that need to same amount of help even though they’re not right in front of us.
Sue and Daniel said,
July 10, 2008 at 3:28 am
This was a really tough decision. I wanted to do something for my family but we’ve been trying to teach Daniel about giving and sharing. Daniel and I decided on this one together. We knew it was going to be a really hot day today so we took the money and bought two cases of bottled water and packed it in a huge bucket of ice. We then drove around Holden, Paxton, and Worcester and handed out water to folks. We put a tag on a few bottles that said “www.fellowshipthis.wordpress.com” just to see what would happen. Daniel was thrilled to talk to people and hand out the water and though some people were hesitant–even suspicious- we managed to hand out almost all the ice cold waters! (It started to rain on us!–Daniel said God was giving out water too!) This was really fun–Thanks Pastor Marty!
Pam W said,
July 12, 2008 at 9:03 pm
What was the “absolutely best thing” to do with the money given to me in my envelope??? There are two places that I do my best thinking and praying….in the shower and driving in my car (with no music on). God layed two ideas on my heart—both of which could be “best”. So I allowed my personal circumstances influence how I spent the money. A few life groups ago, I was invited half way through a reading/discussion of the book Sex God by Rob Bell, which in many ways was difficult since I am no longer married. I wish I had read this book before I got married (wasn’t out yet tho) or before I got separated and eventually divorced. I felt it was pretty powerful reading when you let the Holy Spirit talk to you.
A co-worker’s marriage needs some healing and restoration – with God’s guidance and wisdom. I went today and bought the book along with a card and plan to give it to the co-worker and spouse (they both actually work for UMMS) on Monday and pray that their hearts and eyes will be open and with time and healing their marriage/family will be restored and they will truly live happily ever after. Please pray for them.
Marriages, or should I say when marriages end in divorce, it affects so many more lives than just the couple.
NEVER TAKE EACH OTHER FOR GRANTED! Give your spouse a hug and a kiss now and tell them how thrilled you are they are in your “world”. Remember LOVE IS A VERB.
BTW, I still plan on doing my second thought someday soon.
Laurie said,
July 14, 2008 at 6:36 pm
I had a really hard time trying to decide what to do with the money. Especially since we’re having some financial difficulty right now. I could think of a million ways to spend it on myself, or our family.. $5 doesn’t seem like much money, but when you don’t have it to spare, it can be a lot. I wanted to make sure of 3 things in making my decision. 1: I wanted Collin to be involved, and show some selfLESSness since he’s at a very selfish age right now, 2: I wanted to make sure that the way I spent that money was something I would appreciate someone doing for me, if it were reversed. And, 3: I wanted to spend my $5 in a way that felt like more than $5. So, for a week I thought about it and prayed about it. Then this morning I brought Collin to VBS at my mom’s church, and all week, they are collecting school supplies for kids that are in foster care, or who have families that can’t afford to supply them. So, Collin and I talked about it and decided that would be a great way to spend our money! We went to Wal-Mart afterwards and picked up a bunch of supplies on sale. For our $5 we got 4 notebooks, 24 pencils, 10 pens, 2 boxes of crayons, 2 boxes of colored pencils, 4 glue skicks, 4 bottles of glue, and 2 pairs of scissors! It was great to see Collin picking things out for other kids without being selfish! And it was nice to see so MUCH for $5.
Angela said,
July 30, 2008 at 7:55 pm
To make a long story short, I have been waiting for a “big need” to appear where I would pull out my $5 bill that I recieved and feel like I made a small difference in someone’s life. Well, it has been weeks and that $5 bill is still in my purse. Recently, I left a family gathering early to fullfill a commitment. The committment was beginning to feel like a disappointment because things weren’t working out as planned. That was until I learned of a huge need that would require much more than my $5. The very next day I donated the $5 and more to a very special family.
A Car for Claire | Martyholman.com said,
August 8, 2008 at 12:35 pm
[...] In July, we had an event at “the FC” where the church gave out money to the people attending the service. The money was in increments of $5, $10, and $50, and those who were given the money were asked to decide what the best thing was to do with the funds that they were given. They couldn’t spend it on themselves, and they had to pray about their decision. I was so encouraged to see many of the stories here. [...]
Steve Blumer said,
August 9, 2008 at 12:41 pm
So it’s been quite some time since Tina and I used that money to bless someone else. There were bible verses that had been flowing through our minds in making such a decision. We wanted something that would further the gospel and yet doing something good in Jesus’ name is also something the bible says to do. We also didn’t want to think that it’s only $5 so it doesn’t really matter what we do. We also wanted to really give it to people who would appreciate it and be inspired by it. We also wanted to make sure the people had no idea that we did this for them. We also didn’t want to hold on to it for too much longer and wanted our Lord finding us doing good with it if He returned soon.
So here’s our story: Our children were at other family homes last night and this morning. Tina and I enjoyed a night and breakfast out, just the two of us. It was great. For breakfast, we ended up at Friendly’s in Holden. There weren’t very many people there, but they all were mostly senior citizens. After reading about what Marty, the Lead Pastor, was inspired to do and to care for those “orphans and widows,” we were moved to see all the senior citizens eating breakfast, enjoying the beginning of their day, knowing they didn’t have much money to live life up with, and there were several eating breakfast by themselves. These folks have seen a lot of life and probably sacrificed more than we could know, and now find themselves still wanting to be out enjoying what they can, even alone. It’s the alone part that really hit us. To eat breakfast alone they do everyday. To eat breakfast alone in a public setting has to be hard! And these people would really appreciate to know that they were not overlooked, that there are still people doing good things for people in this world. So as we left to pay for our meal, we paid for two other separate tables, each with a single senior citizen enjoying their breakfast alone. Maybe next time, we’ll have the courage to invite them to our table and let them talk about the good ‘ole days. That would probably bless them more than the $5 paid breakfast. Thanks for pushing us to make steps Fellowship Church, expanding our horizons and our comfort zones to be true ambassadors for Christ.
Tina said,
October 21, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I know this took me forever – and it isn’t that I haven’t given money to people in the last 3 months – but I came across something today in a listing I subscribe to – 29-Day Giving Challenge – and my heart was wrenched by this story Help a grieving low-income mother pay for her child’s funeralhttp://givingchallenge.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=2039308%3ATopic%3A71851 – so I gave them my $5.00 and maybe a little more – nothing more need be said.