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Pastor Frank Malizzo is in Awassa, Ethiopia for a 10 day mission trip with Training Leaders International. Keep checking back for updates on his trip and to see how God is using Pastor Malizzo to minister to local pastors in Ethiopia.

There is dust everywhere.

It billows up from the tires and feet and hooves of all that move on the road.  It hangs in clouds after the heavy trucks pass, and falls like fine mist on the bushes that line the way.  I taste it in my mouth.  I feel it in my eyes.  The dust passes freely into our small bus, as it drives along with windows open, and packed with weary travelers that bounce around like rag dolls.

My entrance to Awassa is different this time.  This is my first trip since the new ‘airport’ has been finished.  We de-plane on the open pavement, and find no other aircraft in sight.  A man in a bright vest, waving from the end of the blacktop, beckons to us, and motions for us to make our way up a dirt path, and between the only two squat buildings on site.  We never go inside.  We never see another passenger.  All of the security points and ticket counters and identity checks are but a faint memory at this point. It seems that we make up the entirety of the traffic here this afternoon.

After collecting our bags and boarding the bus, we begin our crawl along the dusty trail that leads around the lake, and back toward the city.  There is a humble beauty in the landscape here, and in the people. 

Thatched, round huts dot the roadside.  Women in full dress seem out of place, against simple block houses with empty doors.  Barefoot or sandal-clad children run nearby.  Surely their lives are not easy, yet they seem always to be playing.

Eventually, the dust begins to mingle with the familiar smells of diesel and ash, and I would know without even looking that we are now nearing the city.  

Tonight we will rest lying down, and that will be a welcome respite. Tomorrow we will worship with our Ethiopian brothers and sisters. The week’s work lies ahead of us, but for now, we must rest, and then sing. I am tired.

MCC members will vote on the 2018 Church Budget on November 19^th during service.

How does budgeting work at your house? It is stressful or simply a normal part of your monthly routine? Depending on how you manage your family budget it can be wrought with stress, fairly straight-forward or encouraging. At MCC, we fall somewhere in-between all of the above.

As a church family, we keep close tabs on our church budget. MCC’s 2017 budget was $311,000 (well less than the overall giving for the year) for all functions, logistics, and ministries combined.

What a blessing to be part of a church entrusted to use the Lord’s resources to bless our members, the community and the world!

Although our budget is reassessed annually, it is still an arduous process. With that in mind, managing the Lord’s resources should be taken seriously and we are blessed to have a team of Deacons that does just that.

Every year at the end of September, each ministry turns in a budget request to the Deacons. Once each of the requests has been analyzed and approved, they are added to the greater church budget. Considering the many MCC ministries (there are over 40!), this is quite a task. Those numbers are then considered, incorporated and the overall budget is balanced. The information is taken to the congregation for discussion and approval.

You, the Members of MCC, are the ones that make this budget happen! Each MCC ministry is possible only because of your tithes, your contributions and your dedication. It’s a big commitment.

You may remember that two weeks ago there were “budget” meetings held after each service. Maybe you heard the word budget and ran away….it can be a word that instills fear in many households!  About 45 folks took part in the two meetings; asking for clarification on the proposed budget and adding additional items for consideration.

During those meetings church members asked a myriad of questions, raising concerns about our church not having an AED, could we add monitors downstairs for large services when we don’t have enough room, are church staff being paid enough, and more.  

What great insight! This is your church, your budget, and your tithes being spent to serve a big God.

There is an 11% projected increase to our budget for 2018 to address God’s growing role in our community. The full budget is available in the foyer, by email request, or by clicking here. 

We are fortunate to be in this position but that is only because God’s people align with God’s Will in unity.

At Mountain Christian Church we are mountain generous, humbly motivated, and grateful for God’s Transformation in our lives and in our church.

I’d like to ask you a question. Would you say that your life is mostly characterized by scarcity or abundance? 

Go ahead.  Look away from this text, look around, think about it, and answer the question.

Now, how did you determine your answer?  Did your mind instinctively review your possessions?  Your bank account?  The things you go without?  The things you wish you could give your kids?  Your charitable contributions?

Or did you think about your fears?  Did you think about all of your contingency plans?  Your failsafes?  Your probiotics, vitamins and exercise regiment?  Your 401K? The plans you’ve made to ensure that you’ll never have to ask for help…never be indebted to anyone…never have to ask for anything…never be at the mercy of anyone?

I’ll tell you what doesn’t make sense: a kid in a nice restaurant who won’t order anything because she doesn’t want to be a burden to her parents.

“No it’s ok…I’ll go hungry.  I don’t want you to have to provide for me”. (Suffers hunger pangs all night and worries about how she will get her next meal all on her own).

Scarcity.

Do you live this way?  I do.

I’ll give you a small example.

One of the ministries at Mountain Christian Church with which I am privileged to serve is called Shine.  Through Shine, our church is partnered with A. Montoya Elementary.  The purpose of this partnership is for us to work out our calling as people who have been infinitely loved by loving those within the A. Montoya community.  As we do that, we work to bring relief to the suffering and build bridges between ourselves and our community.  We get to support the school in the many things the staff and PTA do to educate and invest in the students there.  One recent event we had the privilege of participating in was A. Montoya’s Fall Festival.  Almost as soon as I found out about this event, I encountered my own attitude of scarcity.

First, I had a tough time with the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to attend the festival myself.  I am the coordinator of this ministry, and as such, am the one with the most connections, knowledge, and comfort at the school.  The idea of sending my friends in to serve without me made me very uneasy.  How would they know where to go?  Who to talk to?  Where to set up?  Who would be there to introduce them to people?  They wouldn’t know anyone and would just have to figure it out alone!  Without ME!  (I do see how ridiculous this is now, but at the time, these concerns seemed very valid).

Second, a brave friend of mine offered to run the cake walk at the festival.  We needed cakes to last for 2 hours of game play.  None of us was sure how many that would be, but we knew it would be A LOT.  The PTA president told us that in years past, they’d simply bought lots of cupcakes so that they could give one cupcake away with each cake walk round; because you know…otherwise, how would you have enough cakes to give away?  I was already nervous about that…about not having enough.  I ran this idea by my brave friend.

“Hmmm.  You know what?”, she said, “I’m hoping we can bless their socks off and do cakes.  I’m praying this morning for God to provide that.”

My brave friend lives with an attitude of abundance.  She must know of Someone who loves to provide.

We asked for cakes.

Let me tell you…I don’t know if anyone in the history of cake walks has ever sweated a cake walk so badly as I did.  For the next 2 weeks, I worried.  I apologized to my brave friend and the others who so generously stepped up to give their time at the festival for not being able to serve with them.  I felt guilty for asking them to be there, even though I wouldn’t be.  I came up with several plans on how to get more cakes to the school in the event that our church couldn’t provide enough.  I sent out announcements using every communication tool we have to attempt to get the word out that we needed cakes.

Scarcity.  As if it’s all up to me. As if I’m all alone.

I left on a trip with my husband, and prayed.  But my brave friend, she’d already prayed…long before I made my plans.  I prayed now, because there was nothing else I could do. 

As you see, an attitude of scarcity drives frantic action without guaranteed results.  “We need, we don’t have, we must act.”  By contrast, an attitude of abundance drives hope with joyful expectation.  “We need, He provides, we ask.” 

My brave friend didn’t show up at church at 7 a.m. the morning of the festival to see how many cakes she’d have to go out and buy.  She walked in an hour and a half before, just as she’d planned, and shed tears of joy at the abundance that she found.

75 cakes.  75 big, sugary cakes. That’s how many we had.

And some parents at A. Montoya…they brought more.  There were 92 cakes given away that night, the last one handed over at 7:00, the very last minute of the festival.  There were exactly enough cakes. 

God provided exactly what was needed; and He didn’t need any of my contingency plans, and He didn’t need us to lower our expectations.

What brings more joy to the parents of that kid in the restaurant…to see her enjoy their provision of a nice dinner for her, or to watch her starve herself? 

Friends…why do we starve ourselves and look frantically about us for fulfillment of our needs, when our Father is the giver of all good gifts?

My brave friend..I should really call her my faithful friend…and this cake walk have taught me something big about being thankful. 

If I insist on clinging to my attitude of scarcity, I rob myself of gifts my heavenly Father would be delighted to give me. 

I miss out on the relationship-building experience of coming to Him in my need and seeing Him provide. I become increasingly dependent upon myself, knowing full well my own inadequacy to provide for myself.  I choose anxiety over peace; fear over joy.

This month, as we ponder giving thanks, would you consider with me your attitude toward your Provider? 

Would you accept the challenge to pray first…to seek God’s provision first…before you fly into action? 

He is glorified when we rely on Him instead of on ourselves.  He is delighted to give, and is honored when our lives become a display of His goodness and generosity.  He is magnified when His provision becomes the source our daily joy and peace.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” - John 10:10

If I had time, I could tell you Kim’s whole life story, and it is worth every minute! She shared it with me over lunch recently, hoping it would help someone else have an easier journey. That knowing her story, someone might see that depression and mental health concerns aren’t just problems non-Christians struggle with. Instead, these are things that many of us struggle with. You might be tempted to pity Kim, but that’s not what she wants at all. Instead, she wants you to see how God kept showing up in her life, kept speaking to her, kept seeking her and that He continually sent her signs that He was there, waiting and providing for her.

He does that for each of us, doesn’t He……seeking, waiting, showing up when we least expect it? He is the Savior that never gives up on us.

God guided Kim: Kim previously attended several churches, including one in Albuquerque, where Kim struggled to fit in. “…no matter how much I tried, the more I sat in that church, the more I felt like I didn’t fit in,” she told me. “Every conversation was surface level, every relationship mediocre.”  Then, she felt God telling her the He was going to make some changes in her life.

She soon moved to the mountains with family and sensed that it was time to move to a new church. “It was the first time in my life when I really listened to God. I had never listened to Him like this. It was intense,” she said. “But, He was clear…I want you out of this church.”  So, Kim decided to try MCC.

God supported Kim: One Sunday morning, Kim called MCC to ask about women’s bible study opportunities. Admittedly, MCC’s church secretary, Elizabeth, does not always check the phone messages on Sunday mornings. For some reason, she did that morning. “She called me back that Sunday and told me that there were different women’s bible studies.” said Kim. “There was even one the next day!” And by God’s grace, Kim showed up for the Inductive Women’s Bible Study, and has been attending for the past year.

God encouraged Kim: The following week Kim attended her first service at MCC. “On my very first day, I walked in to MCC and saw Kay Willadsen,” Kim shared. “I think God meant for her to be there when I walked in that door. I was scared. It was a big deal to start at a new church. And Kay made me feel so comfortable.”

God left signs for Kim:  Driving up the East Mountains to MCC one morning she looked out through the trees and clearly saw a cross in the trees. “Looking back now I can see that He was showing me that He was right there in the middle of my battle. He was showing me that He died on that cross to take my tears; he died to take my depression, to take my fears. I can see it in His Word.”

God spoke to Kim: The one continuous thing that has marked Kim’s life and walk with God has been her struggle with depression. Growing up in an abusive home, suffering a traumatic brain injury, having her daughter taken out of her home and spending a week in a mental facility have all pushed Kim to her limits, at various times.  It has not been easy for Kim.

“On those days God was trying to speak to me,” Kim said, “whether it was in the shower or anywhere I was quiet, he was trying to speak to me. I didn’t understand it, but I knew he was there with me through every struggle.”

God provided for Kim: Kim shared that, “On one of my darkest days, when I could barely see the light, I walked in to the church (MCC) office and told church secretary Elizabeth Allan, I am done with Jesus….I don’t understand the Jesus thing no more.” Elizabeth, ever patient, just looked at her and asked, “Can you meet me every Thursday?” That was a little less than a year ago and the two have met faithfully every Thursday since. Kim considers herself lucky to have someone like Elizabeth to come alongside her, especially because that was not always the case.

“I didn’t always have someone beside me telling me what Jesus would do for me. I learned a lot about being a Christian on my own,” Kim said. “I didn’t truly understand it but I knew a little bit.” And that little bit was enough to get her through a dark and broken season where God revealed to her that she needed to get some help and to find a church home that would teach, support, and heal her.

God’s presence has been ever-present in Kim’s life, when she allowed herself to be watchful and aware.

There are so many other ways God has shown up in Kim’s life; so many ways He continues to transform her. I wish I could share them all but we’ll leave that to Kim. If you see her, ask her-- you will be blessed!  

From an early age we learn about cause and effect. Universal lessons like, “For every action there is a reaction”, and “if you punch your sister she will cry and then tell on you” are among our first experiences. And for some things, it is easy to tell what is a cause and what is an effect.  But, is it easy for everything?

What about gratitude?  

Is gratitude something you have, that causes something else to happen; or is it the effect of some circumstance - like an unexpected gift?  

In my head, I am settled that gratitude is a cause.  It comes first, it is a choice; but when I look at my life, it is clear that often, my behavior would suggest that I believe gratitude only to be applicable when my circumstances are positive. I live as though it is a result or an effect of something else, something that I have no choice over.

It is in this behavior that I am struck with the fact that I miss so much simply because I don't choose gratitude first.  I choose to focus on scarcity, not on the abundance that I have in Christ.  I choose to think about the challenge of what I don’t have, instead of the great riches I do have because the Father loves me.  

It is an audacious command for Paul to tell us in 1 Thessalonians to “...Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Because to rejoice always and to pray always and to give thanks always requires us to see rejoicing and gratitude as something we have control over; a choice.  

A choice that is not connected to circumstance, jealousy, opinion or the feeling of being victims to our surroundings.

As we start the holiday season, our choice to be grateful will be pressed over and over again.  We’ll be tempted to think about what we don’t have, how we aren’t good enough, and how difficult things are.  Even in our shortcomings, we have a choice to allow Him to make our weakness strong.  This isn’t a choice we make once, but one that we constantly make.  

So, let us go in to this season focused on the abundance we have in Christ, and let’s make gratitude the cause that God uses in our lives to transform us.