Hey guys let me tell you a story of what God did at my beach bon fire, and how, what I thought was a nightmare of a fundraiser, became a realization of His providence and faithfulness. Well the start of my day was late. I wanted to be at the beach at 12 p.m. Let me tell you that didn’t go as planned. My friend Kyle who was helping me with the fundraiser was convincing me that there would be no fire pits at the Balboa beach because of the start of the summer so I was a little bit concerned, but I knew the Lord would provide so I didn’t mind. As we hit traffic my concern turned into a mini panic because we didn’t end up at the beach until 4. As we got to the destination I jump out my friends car to see if I could snag me a fire pit as I ran to the pits I notice that there were a lot of pits available my nerves started to calm. So I began to choose which one would be the best fit, I picked one thinking it would be the best fit for the people, it had a lot of space for people to sit and chill and not too close to other people at the beach. We stared to set up and right off the back the canopy that I was using broke on me, one of the legs broke. So it took Kyle and I thirty minutes to fix it. As we started unpack everything I noticed things were missing that we needed for the BBQ. (Well let me first tell you this that I’m not at all the most organized person you’ll meet, and if you’re like me you feel my pain ha-ha.) I’m scrabbling around the stores looking for the stuff I need for my BBQ and time is limited because my fundraiser was an hour away. As I was looking for the things that I needed, my friend Kyle calls me just to tell me that the grill is not working. At this point I start to pray and ask God “Why is this happening to me?” I’m beginning to get frustrated. I go to back to pit to see if I could fix it. I get back just to find out that there’s no way to fix the problem. As I sit wondering what am I going to do with 40 hamburgers and hot dogs with 20 min till start time. My friend offers to go buy another grill so he goes on his way. Around 5 minutes later some guy walks up to me and tells me “hey man you can’t use that wood in that pit, it’s a charcoal pit only”, my heart drops I was done! I didn’t even say anything to him, I just took a walk down the beach.
As I was walking, I started reflecting on the Gods creation, the beach, and it began to calm me down. I stared praying, thanking God for today because it was such a beautiful day. I started to understand that the enemy is here to kill, steal, and destroy anything good, and wasn’t going to make it easy for me. So I started thanking Jesus for providing the food that was free for me, the opportunity for me going on this trip to be a light in many nations. I remember praying this prayer “you provide so many times you will provide today”. So I started walking back and people are starting to come. Not knowing what to do I start telling them the situation; everyone was surprisingly alright with it. My buddy Kyle comes back with a brand new grill so he begins to cook up the food. I see the worker who told me that I couldn’t use the wood. I go to him and talk to him about my situation and I ask him how much would they fine me if where to use the wood he says a couple hundred bucks I told him that I was going to use it anyway. He pulled me to the side and said I really don’t care if you just keep it low and that he wouldn’t say anything. I was so stoked everything was falling in place people where having a good time eating laughing enjoying each other’s companying. I was standing back and thanking God for my friends and family who support in anything I do.
That day God taught me that no matter how bad things get or go to your plan if you trust in Him and keep on trusting in Him He will provide. I had to step back of my own mind and reflect and change my mind set towards Him. I ended up making 500 dollars total with only 25 people showing up. All that being said I would like to thank all the people who showed up and thank you to all the people who take their time to pray for me. If you would like to keep up with me on this journey please subscribe to my blog and if you’re interested in helping financially feel free to click the donate button J
