Our stewardship campaign is entitled facing life’s giants. This theme, as you can guess, came from the Christian movie made here in Georgia. The movie, to recap for those who have not seen it, is about a football coach in the midst of a losing streak. His job is on the line, he and his wife can not get pregnant, the car won’t start, even the stove is broken, and they are too poor to get it repaired! Really, everything that could is going wrong in his life, but through prayer and a mentor he gives his troubles to Christ. You can guess the ending: God answers his faith. Someone gives him a truck, the team wins state, his wife is expecting, the school gives him a raise…   

But, you know, life is not a movie… much less a Christian movie. Often things do not work out. The couple praying so hard for a child might never become pregnant. Sometimes the man whose job is on the line, though he prays with faith, still loses his job. A few weeks ago Korean missionaries were kidnapped in Afghanistan, though the world prayed for them, two were executed (the rest were released). Where is God? Is He faithful?   

We recently heard Bebo Norman in concert and he retold a story of a visit to Africa. There he meet a man whose entire family accepted Christ. Sitting in his mud hut someone asked if he could have one thing in the world what would it be? The man thought for awhile and replied, “I have food and sometimes even fruit (as he pointed to a small tree). I have this house and my entire family knows Jesus Christ. What more could I ask for?”   

If asked what else we would like to own we could all think of 100’s of things… This is why the movie wouldn’t make sense to us if the team lost and wife didn’t get pregnant… We are not satisfied just to know Christ. I suppose that is why stewardship has to be called facing life’s giants, because for us money is often bigger than our faith… Check out James 1.