A new car

In November last year someone in the Church was planning to scrap their car but offered it to me first.

The worst winter for ages kicked in and I was grateful every morning to have a form of transport with a roof.

I am very grateful for that provision but for a while now have begun to think about maybe getting something more suitable for me.

Fast forward to August and someone else offered another car, which would be more suitable for me. Result!

I thought about scrapping the first car but decided to post on Facebook if anyone wanted it.

Straight away someone else from Church responded.

They have a new job and need a car urgently so that they can get to work, and had prayed over the weekend for God to open up an opportunity to get a cheap car.

So I received a car and was really grateful. It served me well and just passed its MOT. At the point I started to think about a different car something else opened up. That allowed me to pass the blessing I had received on to someone else.

And all the way through not a penny has changed hands; people have been blessed (2 by giving, 1 by receiving, and me in the middle who could do both), useable cars have not been scrapped and God has provided.

We have a "Community of goods" scheme active in the Church which is a noticeboard where people can post up stuff they want to give away or stuff they need. A sort of Freecycle within the Church. Why get a few quid off ebay or dump it on the doorstep of a charity shop if someone you know and love could actually use it?

More and more I think we need to make brave decisions about ownership and sharing to explore more fully what "having everything in common" can really mean in a western affluent society.

Not least, because that way everyone wins.

Piaggio Zip 50 - God Provides!

For two years since getting married Esther has had priority with our car for her work as a support worker with social services.

That was fine when she worked just around the corner from here, although it was hard for me to lose my main transport during the day.

Then Esther's work moved to the other side of town and I was relying on lifts from people from church to get to work and then a different couple taking me home. That was so kind but it meant I lost even more flexibility for timings as well as being hassle for Esther having to trek across town every time my lift didn't work out.

So I decided to take a big step - I couldn't really justify a second car on the basis of both cost and the environment etc. That meant a scooter! A moped. A chicken chaser. You know, the ones that sound like a lawnmower on speed and represent the highest desire of a 16 year old male and no-one else in society!

Yep - that is it. I had little experience of motorbikes except 3 weeks clinging to the back of my friend Ankush on the back of his 500cc Enfield while spending time in Bangalore.

I don't need a different license as my car license is old enough to allow me to ride up to 50cc without L plates, but I did my CBT anyway for a bit of experience. The day I chose was in May, it hailed and one of my indicators didn't work. I was a bit depressed riding around on a clapped out old Honda in the hail having to make hand signals at every roundabout, but I survived.

So I decided to start to save up to purchase a scooter, and was looking for something cheap and cheerful, like a Kymco Agility or Piaggio Zip.

Then came our Church gift day towards paying off the mortgage on our premises to free up money which could then go on future staff wages. Esther challenged me one morning "I hate the way when we think about giving we always give out of what we have. I want us to do something really radical."

That was a spiritual "right hook" that took a few days to digest fully. Then it dawned on me, a seed of faith was planted.

"Babe, you know you said you didn't want to just do something ordinary for this gift day but wanted to do something radical? Well - I will cut a deal with you. I will give the money we have saved for my scooter, if you give the money we have saved for our holiday"

The look on Esther's face is difficult to describe, it was as though her spirit leapt inside her and a massive smile broke out. "Would you be willing to do that? Yes - that is exactly what I wanted. Something that actually matters."

So that is what we did - the week before the gift day I emptied our savings account, kissed goodbye to my scooter and gave it to the Church.

Two weeks later and the Gift Day total was announced - £87,320 was given on the day, of which 10% was given to the newfrontiers offering this year, so less 8,732. But then we could reclaim Gift Aid, and further money came in beyond the day itself, with the total figure now standing at £119,586, less the offering money leaving £110,852 towards our total target of £94,000.

God is so good!

What is more, Esther & I felt a very real sense of being part of that provision. We had not given that much money at all really, but we had given up something we both wanted. No-one knew we had done this. I don't share it now for any reason other than what happened next.

I heard the total for the gift day one morning. That afternoon a Christian friend said to me "Dave, we know you have being saving up for a scooter, and we want to give you X amount of money towards buying one." The amount? Precisely what we had given to the gift day - nearly double what I had given up as savings towards my scooter.

The provision was God's and was there all along. But how much more it meant knowing we had entered into the process with Him cheerfully!

In our local newspaper a second hand Zip came up with just 1500 miles on the clock and one older, careful previous owner.

So on Monday I picked up my scooter, a Piaggio Zip 50, and am now zipping around the streets of Shrewsbury knowing everytime I see that bike, Jehovah Jireh, God provides. It is not just a cheap and cheerful mode of transport anymore - it is a sign of God's goodness to me.


Ah you say - but what about the holiday? Well some friends offered us a week in a cottage in Worcestershire. It had been booked up all summer but was free the week we were booked to go on holiday. God had it all covered, we just had to step into His purposes to find it.