Fri Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

I am not promising anyone that Jesus will always give you everything you want. As a matter of fact, I hope He doesn’t. The greatest way to spoil any child is to give them anything they want. He has promised to supply all of our needs if we will just follow Him as a sheep follows a shepherd.

I had this proven to me in the greatest way ever when I was a student at the seminary. Teresa and I had gone there, literally, on a prayer and a shoestring with about $100 in our bank account. I had just had back surgery and under doctor’s orders could not do anything for the first three months we were there. She was a legal secretary (thank goodness she was not an illegal secretary) and she was making just enough money for us to pay bills and buy some groceries. I was finally cleared to work and at the same time I was called to a church about 90 miles from the seminary and they called me to be their pastor the Sunday before Christmas at the grand salary of $100 a week which, believe me, was like a $1000 a week to a seminary student.

I went home for Christmas and came back to experience what is now famously known as “The Blizzard of ’77”. It snowed so much we didn’t see our car for almost 2 months and for 3 months we were not able to get to our little country church. We didn’t know what we were going to do, because we were about to starve to death on Teresa’s salary. I was in school full time with a full academic load. Every Saturday I would call my people at the church to see if there was any way we could get to the church, but we couldn’t.

The next Friday I went to the post office to check my mail and there was a check for $100 from this little country church and the next Friday, and the next Friday, and for 12 straight Fridays I got a check for $100 even though I could not fulfill my pastoral duties.

I will always be forever grateful to that little church for keeping food on my table, heat in my apartment, and clothes on my back. I realize looking back that is part of the abundant life – knowing that you have a Jesus who is more aware of your needs than you are and will meet all of your needs according to His riches. You see there is more to life than making money. What is better than making money is trusting the God that makes all the money.