We have spent a lot of time talking about money and giving and generosity for the past two Sundays.  I imagine it's been pretty hard for you to hear because it has been hard for me to say.  One reason it's been so hard on us is that you might be thinking that I have been fussing at you; that I have been telling you to straighten up and start being generous.

If that's what you have been hearing, I am sorry that I am such a poor communicator.  That thought has never entered my mind.  The truth is that it is my privilege and honor at TOCC to be allowed to speak to some of the most outrageously generous people I have ever known.  The way you love and care for people is inspiring, and I am blessed in so many ways by you.

Which brings me to another reason why these talks about living lives of loving generosity have been so hard - the purpose of our Special Contribution.  It's one thing to ask you to contribute to projects that directly bring physical and spiritual benefits to others.  We all want to do that.  But, being asked to contribute to pay for brick-and-mortar facilities [or, in our case, a steel building that looks like a warehouse] just doesn't pull on our heart-strings the same way, does it?  

          Speaker - "Reach deep into your wallets so that we can reduce the mortgage note on this building."

           Audience - "Yawn."       

Thankfully, Matthew has done a wonderful job in explaining that reducing the mortgage note is not the goal of our Special Contribution.  Reducing the mortgage note is merely the means through which we will achieve our goal - being better positioned to meet our calling to serve and minister as Christ's Ambassadors, helping people be reconciled to God [2 Cor. 5:20].

This Special Contribution is asking us to give into future possibility and opportunity.  May The Lord open our hearts to the possibilities.

~Shepherd Ambrose Ramsey