10 years and no paycheck...

Yep, it's the truth. For almost 10 years, I have not once received a pay check. In fact, I wouldn't know what to do with one if I got one. Now, I do receive checks, just not one in bulk for doing what I do. Friends, family, church bodies, and anonymous individuals have sustained me. Though not always consistent in their giving, I must say that to this day, I have yet to use a credit card. I have yet to REALLY been in need. I have NEVER lacked anything...EVER I've even been spoiled with funds to pay for things that I've not needed, but selfishly wanted. Remember how I said that life with Jesus as the pilot is everything BUT boring? Check this out:

And might I add that this isn't to boast, but to prove to you the provision of the Lord when you choose to walk by FAITH and not by sight. And all of the following was done in 10 years without a paycheck!

In ten years, I've visited (outside of the US):

Indonesia
Thailand
Costa Rica
Honduras
Nicaragua
Venezuela
Mexico
Spain

In that time I've "lived" (2 months or longer) in:

Indonesia (2 months)...missionary home with fellow students
Costa Rica (9 months)...two host families
Venezuela (5 years)...2 apartments where I lived solo
Spain (2 months...4 after this coming summer)...two missionary families and one host family

AND:

I've become bilingual with Spanish as my second language.

I've also witnessed firsthand: Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Ancestor worship, Atheism, Catholicism, Witchcraft, and who knows what else.

I've embraced Christianity in each country as well: in a house church dressed in Muslim attire, in street ministry among Catholics and gypsies, in parks with witches in the midst, and over midnight tea with Atheists.

I've seen births of new believers in the majority of those countries; I had the privilege of baptizing a friend in a women's prison in an over-sized trash can! NOT LYING! It was awesome!

I've read the account of Jesus death in detail and watched as women inmates cried in silence as they realized for the first time what sacrifice and grace is all about.

I've seen tribal dances, heard wailing from demon possessions, been to a six-hour funeral, a six-hour wedding (the bride was 2 hours late), eaten dog, horse, and chicken brains and intestines, been in the middle of an anti-American demonstration, gotten homesick for countries other than the US, been refused departure from a foreign airport, said hello and goodbye more times that I can count...and I'm sure this is ONLY the beginning. And all of this life and ministry (and so much more)...for a price tag of about...get this...

A QUARTER OF A MILLION BUCKS.

And not one paycheck...just generosity. My, how God provides! Afterall...

"We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." EPHESIANS 2:10