An Influential Sermon

Before Jobina and I first got married, we had no plan. Well, not true, actually the plan was to get married, go on our honeymoon and not worry about anything else until we were man and wife! We rented an apartment, threw our stuff in there, and got married. When we got back from our honeymoon we set up our new home and began to look for jobs. Luckily people were generous at our wedding ("Presentation preferred!") and eventually we both found work. We lived in the East corner of Winnipeg; unfortunately Jobina worked in the West corner and I worked in the South corner. With one vehicle this made for lots of driving and our life became quite busy. Like many young married we quickly found ourselves without a lot of extra time. Also, I often had to work Sundays. Church fell by the wayside.

Eventually, after a month or two we began to feel guilty about not finding a church. So we began to look. It seemed to us that we needed a church that was flexible (time wise) and contemporary. Jobina's Aunt Stacey told us about the church her and her husband went to called "The Meeting Place" that seemed to fit our criteria and so we decided to check it out. We liked it very much and ended up going whenever we could.

The first time we stepped in I was a little shocked. Pink Floyd's "Money" was blasting over the speakers and at the front of the stage was a large "idol" to money. They were in the middle of doing a series on money and money management. I remember that sermon because there were two practical insights that the pastor suggested. First, give a percentage of your income. He suggested 10 percent but said more or less might fit you better. The other thing he said was that you should save 10 percent of your income, to use for unforseen needs. This struck Jobina and I as sensible as we had no financial plan to speak of. To find out our percentages, we had to find out our income which naturally lead to the idea of budgeting (a painful experience). For the past 11 years we have been giving and saving. Several times our savings account has saved us from financial doom. And it has been awesome to have money set aside to give freely. Thanks Meeting Place for that timely sermon! I can't imagine what we would have done without it.