One of the most inspiring stories on God's Faithfulness I have heard

A church I love and have been involved with for a decade and a half is in a building program. A big building program. They have been careful. But, spring is coming and they want to move ahead.

The leaders went to the bank for a construction loan. The bank wanted to make sure that the money would be there to pay the note if the bank were to lend the money. That's the times we live in. Ultra Conservative banking. Fear. Needing certainty.

They made a strange request of the Pastor. Of the top 185 givers of the church they wanted to know:

How long had they been giving at this level
How sound were their Jobs or Incomes for future giving in a depression world view
What does their income represent in giving as a percentage of the total church budget

Good questions. A report was generated. Every person on the list was examined.

Here's the result. Every one of those people has jobs or income sources that is likely to stay solid for a long time. Firefighters, Police, Doctors and sound long term retirement incomes.

The income of those 185 families was estimated to be 1.75 million.

What was most interesting was that these people had almost all been with the fellowship for 10 years or more, steady, faithful in giving, solid and never wavering even when times got tough.

Looking over the givers of less was a pattern of in and out of the fellowship, in an out of jobs and work.

We stand before people and say to them that if they are faithful to God in Giving He will be faithful to them. He is as good as His word.

Now, are we as good as our word?