Free Nuggets Game and the Kingdom of God

So it snows here in Colorado. I mean it really snows. I remember one time in college going out to shovel out my car, but it had snowed so much all the cars were covered in snow and I had no ideas which car was mine. I had to go up to all the cars in the general area I thought I parked and scrape it off to see if it was the right color.

So in a state that snows, snow tires are a really good thing. My husband Austin went to buy some snow tires last month at a brand new tire shop down the street and came home with 4 free club seats to a Nuggets game. How exciting is that! On our way to the game we pull up to pay for a not-so-cheap parking pass and the lady said someone had already paid for us. Free on top of free, really!? A fun night out with the family totally and completely FREE! At the game we used what we would have spent on parking to buy cotton candy and a basket ball for the boys. 

The next day Austin was reading Malachi by which the Lord convicted him. Austin told me a story of a extremely wealthy man named Craig. He told me that one time Craig was going snowboarding and he ended up getting a free pass to the mountain. But instead of using the money he would have spent on the pass, he said, "This is great, God freed up money for His kingdom" and he gave the money away. 

Wow!
We serve such an incredibly generous God who is always giving us good gifts. 

I want to be a grateful daughter, not one that lives as though I deserve and am entitled to His gifts. As the Lord so graciously does, He showed us how to take a step of faith financially to live grateful, to live as stewards. Austin and I sat down and tried to think of every material gift we'd been given this year and wrote down how much it cost the person to give it to us. If it was something we already were intending to pay for we put a 100% by it, like when a guy helped us fix our truck for free. If it was a gift of something we weren't planning on paying for, like the Nuggets game, we put a 10% by it. We added up the total taking either 100% or 10% of the gifts amount and decided to give that amount away as an end of the year gift to remind ourselves money and gifts don't belong to us, they are a resource for God's kingdom. 

Giving is scary. There's always the question of "Where is this really going to come from?" But on the other hand it's a great opportunity to get to see God show off, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows." Malachi 3:10

About Laura

Laura is married to her best friend Austin, and has three kids, two of who are adopted. They have been missionaries to college students for the last 11 years and currently serve in Denver Colorado with Master Plan Ministries. Laura loves to speak to women's and college groups and wrote an in-depth Bible study, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional which goes through First Samuel last year. You can find her on facebook, twitter, youtube, instagram and pintrest.

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