Chris

To say Chris is no little person to someone in Detroit today is to elucidate the obvious…but let me give you the context.

In the spring of 2011, Cynthia and I were new to the Detroit area and were looking for a church to join. One of those churches named “Ekklesia” met in a high school. This was not a church amid trappings of wealth. I noticed no high-end cars in the lot. It was not a large church. On the Sunday we visited, the church served lunch after its service. At lunch we sat next to three homeless men who had come for lunch. It was at that point Chris, the pastor, sat down to visit with us.

Chris, Andrea, Levi and Judah

Ekklesia was a smaller church in a lower income neighborhood. Ekklesia had a vision to build a house in 6 days for a struggling family. The sense I got was …no, we don’t have a bunch of rich folks here but let’s do it anyway….and they did.

The next year they did more houses. Last year they built a house in the middle of a forty square block renovation and blight removal project in one of the toughest areas of Detroit.

As a result of all this Chris founded LifeRemodeled (liferemodeled.com) and now does this full time. This week about 10-12,000 volunteers from GM, Quicken, churches, construction companies and many others are showing up at Cody High School in Detroit to renovate the high school and a 3-square mile area around it.

So, Chris did (and is doing) what I wrote in my previous blog. Don’t wait to win the lottery. Line up with what God already wants to do and ask Him to tap His foundation…..really. And do it now.

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Start your own foundation

So here is my recurring fantasy. I don’t play the lottery. However, one day when the jackpot is $150 million…not $149 million ….but EXACTLY $150 million, God gives me a lottery ticket that I don’t buy. Either I find it or someone gives it to me…I am not sure how God gets this to me. That’s all part of Him demonstrating that this is ALL Him…

So back to reality. For the last few years as I drive down the road, I actually check out the amounts on the lottery billboards and look at the amounts. I really do this. This is not part of the fantasy. If you could read my thoughts you would know….but so far I have not seen $150 million exactly show up on a billboard.

Meanwhile, I think about what I am going to do with all this money. I think I am not so good at managing the money I have now. So, I think I need some help. I need a good financial guy. I need some good people. Tax. Investments. Someone with a missions background. I have some specific people in mind for this. These folks are really gifted.

If I got that money I would suddenly become less noble-minded than I fantasize that I would be after winning it. So I will have to move fast before I start buying Lamborghinis. I need to find a lawyer NOW so that as soon as I win I can implement the plan…I don’t know EXACTLY when that would be…so I have to be ready. As soon as I win, I will call my lawyer with whom I have this all worked out. He will protect my identity so no one knows I won. No press. No papparazzi. No local six o’clock news human interest stories.

No one will know that I won. I really need to work on this part about the lawyer. I need someone I can really trust with this big of a secret. Someone who won’t speak of it even generically. Someone who will be absolutely a CIA-type…take-it-to-the-grave, secret-keeper.

I won’t change my buying habits. Don’t want anyone to notice. I will be doing great things and they won’t even realize it was me behind it…er….I mean God behind it.

As Patton said, “… a good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” Some of this will have to wait until I actually have the money. So my “good” plan is to limit how much I will quietly keep for myself…er…my family. I’m thinking about $5 million but I’m not sure. That could change. You know the dollar is losing strength fast…and I’m not sure how soon this is all going to happen.

With the rest I would start a foundation. I would call the foundation “Eye on Argentina”. I will need some board members to help me steward this money. (I have specific people in mind already. I will get back to you and let you know if you’re one of the lucky ones!!).

I haven’t quite figured out how to keep the board members from knowing I won the lottery. Not sure it makes sense that these folks would conclude that some mystery person would put me in charge of this foundation named “Eye on Argentina”. I need to get my story straight.

I would spend my time quietly talking about mission needs. Praying about stuff. Visiting obscure ministries. Flying coach. Investigating first-hand. Low profile. Talking this over with my expert friends/board members… and giving BIG sums of money away. Well, OK. It’s not Bill Gates/Warren Buffet level but it’s a lot bigger than now.

We would need to pace ourselves. I need someone smart who can help the foundation resources grow. I’m just not good at that.

And there’s all sorts of other things I need to work out. Do I involve my kids in the foundation? You know it’s not good to give them too much too fast or to make it too easy….

There is A LOT to figure out!

…………….

So, at 3:50am this morning I wake up and God proposes an alternative.

It’s like He says,..” start your foundation now. Walk into your living room and just start talking to Me about where we should put this money. What ministries, people, heart-wrenching needs you’d love to see resolved. I can just move the hearts of my guys and you won’t have to figure out the rest of this stuff. No tax filings. No pesky board meetings. No paparazzi. …and you won’t have to go overboard trying to look so humble. Yeah I know you don’t have a $150 million but you know…I really do and it’s very portable.”

 

 

 

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