Money. It’s a necessary thing. Looking at the world, there’s few things you can do without money. It’s basically an inescapable fact of life. Unless you’re willing to be a hermit in the woods and build your own house, grow your own food, and so on, money is something you need. Housing costs money. Transportation costs money. Food, insurance, gas, water, electricity, furniture, technology, recreation, travel, etc. If you want to have any of these things, you’d better have money.
The World Race is no exception to this rule. One can’t simply travel all over the place without money, not even for a good cause like sharing Jesus’ love with people. Which means that in order to go, I have to somehow obtain enough money. Which brings me to the elephant in the room: fundraising. Can I just be honest for a second? I don’t enjoy fundraising. Seriously, anytime I have to do something related to fundraising, I find myself dragging my feet. If I had had the choice at the beginning, fundraising is the part of this process that I would probably skip. If I would have had $17,000 lying around, you’d never have heard a peep of fundraising from me.
So I started thinking, why do I feel this way? What is it about the concept of fundraising that fills me with dread? For one, I just generally don’t like having to ask people questions if I can help it. I’d rather not ask where something is if I can find it on my own. I don’t want to ask what is happening if I can figure it out myself. I don’t want to ask for clarification, even if I don’t understand what you’re talking about. I don’t want to ask for help if I can do it myself.
It was that last one that really struck me. I like feeling independent. I like feeling self-sufficient. I like being able to rely on myself, especially since I can control what I do. I like being able to take full credit when I succeed, and I prefer that I can only blame myself when I fail. But that isn’t how God intended this to work.
In reality, I can’t take credit for any of my successes, because that originates from God, not from me. I came across a passage of Scripture a few months ago, and it has quickly became one of my favorites.
“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant.” – 2 Corinthians 3:4-6
It doesn’t get much plainer. For all my aspirations of independence and self-sufficiency, Paul says it quite clearly. I, on my own, am not sufficient. Never will be, never can be.
And now I understand how much of a growing process fundraising has been, and will continue to be. I am not sufficient, and if I try to act as if I am, I will come up short every time. So using my own strengths and abilities can no longer be Plan A. That’s a plan that’s doomed to failure. Releasing the responsibility of bringing in funds to God has been difficult. I am still struggling with it. But I know that his ways are higher than mine, and if I have to raise funds, to rely upon Him and upon other people to take me where I’m going, there’s certainly good reason for that.
So, friends, in recognition of the fact that I cannot do this alone, I must be honest about my needs. I am in need of your prayers, and I am in need of financial support. So, with swallowed pride, I ask, would you partner with me to make this ministry opportunity possible? I can’t do it on my own, and now, I no longer want to.
