Holy Spirit or Madison Ave? (Last of 6)

NEVER SHORT
     On July 1, 1982, G. Allen Hires could write to friends, "This is a landmark to us for it marks the anniversary of our total dependence on the promises of God without ANY promise of support.
     "We were full of fears as we faced what to those around seemed a total impossibility. Now we rejoice seeing God's dealings in the days and moments of our walk.
     "Our enemies assured one and all we were 'closed.' Now they ask how we stay open. One year ago today we had 22 boys. Now we care for 25 and have 3 more coming. We now have the largest group home in the state. The parents are more involved and the boys have a different attitude toward success. NEVER have we been short of food or clothing."

From their website, Flying H Youth Ranch:

The Flying H Youth Ranch is a Christian residential program for teenage boys who are struggling within their families.

Founded in 1962, the Ranch has served over 2,000 boys and families, emphasizing concern for helping the entire family and encouraging faith in Jesus Christ and the Bible.

We exist to bring these young men and their families to God's perspective and standards of family living. Our desire is to enable the boys to build and re-build relationships. In addition to this we want to help them learn to overcome destructive decisions, have accomplishment academically and physically, form moral and responsible codes as well as learn discipline and obedience while learning to view themselves as unique and valuable.

We accept boys, ages 13 (8th grade)-16½ , commonly exhibiting the following characteristics:

• Defiant and Angry
• Disrespectful to authority
• Lacking self-control
• Experimenting with drugs and alcohol
• A.D.H.D.
• Deteriorating academic performance
• Poor peer choices

Flying H Youth Ranch, 370 Flying H Loop, Naches, Washington 98937 Phone (509) 658-2990  Fax (509) 658-2009 Email youth@flyingh.org Today I am thankful for the life and vision of G. Allen Hires, d. January 16, 1987.

Holy Spirit or Madison Avenue? (5th of 6)

     What effect has the loss of our contract had on the boys we care for? We have noticed much greater spiritual progress with them. Many find Christ as their savior while even more find Him as their daily source of help.
     We are free now to set our own rules, making attendance at church, devotions, and Sunday School part of the program, rather than the option it had to be under state regulations. We can require chores and thus teach work skills. And we can determine our own discipline, rather than let it be established by a social worker.
     Best of all, we have been able to minister to the parents as well as to the boys. They are now enthusiastically involved with us in helping their children.
     In all of this, we have seen the abundant, faithful provision of the Lord. Not one payment was ever late or in default although we never knew day to day how God would supply next. As of this writing, there is not one unpaid bill.
     We have been cast on the Lord in a new way. We pray for each other's needs individually and it is thrilling to watch every need be met.

PRAY MEANS PRAY!
     One day a bank president called me to ask what he and his friends could do for us.
     "Can you get 50 people to pray for a certain family here?
     "Certainly, Is that all?"
     "If you can get the 50, then ask them to pray for open ears so God can tell them anything more He wants of them."
     We did not need to tell these prayer partners our needs. We could safely continue to tell our needs to God and let Him move people to have a part in His ministry here.
     Unfortunately, when some saints hear the word "pray," they interpret this to mean, "Give $5." If they hear, "really pray," they think "$25" and if they hear something in an "urgent prayer request," they tend to think in terms of $100 or more. This is a confusing of prayer with giving and the confusion is compounded by the appeals of some Christian ministries.
     But giving can never be a substitute for prayer. James 5:16 says "Tremendous power is made available by a good man's earnest prayer" (Phillips translation). Money is never spoken of as being powerful in the spiritual sense. Although money and those who give it are essential, it is only prayer which is priceless and which has everlasting results.

Today I am thankful for salvaged and redeemed lives.

Holy Spirit or Madison Avenue? (4th of 6)

     One day we prayed, "God, we need cooking oil." When we went into town to pick up some donated foodstuffs, we were told, "By the way, we have some cooking oil for you." Some? They gave us 72 gallons!
     Another time, a friend called long distance to tell one of the staff that she would be coming to visit. The staff missionary was dismayed as she knew her cupboard was bare, especially of eggs.
     "Lord," she prayed, "I need eggs. Please tell my friend to bring some."
     As the friend considered coming, she was reminded of the strain she might put on the missionary. She cast about in her mind for some way to ease that strain and remembered that she was overstocked on eggs. That would be just the ticket.
     So the eggs arrived with the company. "Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things." (Matthew 6:32)
     And so it has gone. When our income dropped off, God's good hand took over and our food budget remains about the same as it was in 1980. No small feat for any but a BIG God. Our staff is leaning about living hand to mouth--God's hand to our mouths.

THE MANNA BOARD
     What about staff needs? They have housing and health insurance, but no salaries now, although most of them have growing children. How do they live?
     They subsist entirely on contributions from those whose heart God touches. All undesignated gifts are gathered into one account and whenever there is one thousand dollars in that account, it is shared equally. The checks are hung on each missionary's personal clip on what has come to be known as "The Manna Board."
      Of course there are bigger things that defy the size of the Manna Board, like furniture and appliances and cars. The Lord has provided those, too. And skills. We needed a farmer for the hundred acres of farmland on the Flying H. God provided a family from Minnesota.
     We had prayed and planned for 3,200 square feet of bedroom space for 30 boys. After the state dropped their contract with us, this seemed like an endangered project. But we did as much as we could with it and whenever we needed more building material God supplied it.
     One day a stranger from Southern California walked into our office and announced that he wanted to donate his time to us for a week. His skills were particularly need in finishing the building and so it was completed "without missing a beat."
     We had been praying for a Christian school. Now it is becoming a reality in some rooms being built into our gym.

(To be continued)

Today I am thankful that before we ask, God answers.

Holy Spirit or Madison Avenue (3rd of 6)

MULTIPLYING MONEY
     A lady who cleaned houses for others had very little to share but did send us a $5 bill, with an apology that she could not send more.
     We kept track of that bill. First it went to town to pay for a small part we needed and it was returned with the message: "No charge." The next day it went into town again to buy something else. This time it came back because there was a special that day. Again, "No charge."
     Twice the $5 had been offered, the merchandise obtained and our money returned. Not until the third time (does the "Golden Arches" ever refuse money?) was it accepted.
     When the giver heard that her gift had been multiplied three times by the Lord, she was so thrilled she told one of the ladies for whom she cleaned house. This lady immediately gave her another $5 for missions!
     But the story didn't end there. A businessman in the area asked us how our work is financed. We mentioned the "multiplying" $5 bill. A few weeks later when we placed an order with him, he settled our account by telling us, "Pretend you are spending that $5 over again."
     To the best of our figuring, God has generated ten times the amount of the original $5 in actual purchases, and no accounting has been obtained of the different ones who have been encouraged to share the little they have because of it.

SHALL I NOT CLOTHE YOU?
     We always dreaded the coming of a new school year because there was n so much shopping to do for the boys. During the summer of 1981, we estimated that it would cost about $2,000 to get just the barest school clothing necessities for them It might as well have been two million dollars, so far as we were concerned.
     But a Yakima merchant who was unaware of our need gave us two vans full of his "returns." They included everything from socks and underwear for pre-schoolers to XXL men's sizes. Besides that, he gave us at least 100 pairs of cowboy boots.
     On that "dreaded" first day of school, not only the boys but all the staff families were outfitted better than any year previously. God was telling us, "If I clothe the lilies of the field, shall I not MUCH MORE clothe you?" (Matthew 6:28-30)
     Food is always a big item in our budget. "Hollow legs" are more than just a poetic expression when 20 boys try to see how many slices of French toast they can eat at one sitting or how many pancakes they can make disappear. Thank God for a 48-inch grill but still--
     We have a ready answer for those who say, "Could you use a ton of potatoes?" or "How about 1,000 pounds of asparagus?" At one time or another, we have been given three full pick-up loads of ice cream, 200 gallons of milk, cases of yogurt, 200 cases of fresh corn (5 dozen to the case), 500 pounds of Jello powder (lemon), 8 cases of fresh pineapple, 2 pallets of frozen Lima beans, enough cranberry juice to fill a swimming pool.


(To be continued)

Today I am thankful for the God who multiplies.

Holy Spirit or Madison Avenue? (2nd of 6)

     As we had contemplated the multiplied thousands of dollars which would be necessary to buy and operate the Flying H, our hearts failed until the Lord showed us Mark, chapter 10, verses 29-30: "Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he shall receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.'"
     The words just jumped at us and we replied, trembling, "Lord, You know the value of this property. We have dedicated it to You. Now give us back one hundred times as much."
     The state gave us a license and agreed to fund our program. The Lord gave us a staff and enabled us to pay off the original mortgage, erect and pay for a gym, purchase two adjacent ranches and pay off one of them.
     Then in 1981 we were stunned by the news that the state had decided to drop their contract with us. This meant that 95% of our income-- $20,000--would be cut July 1st.
     With no income from outside nor leading from above, we sat and fearfully viewed the future. We notified the eleven families and individuals on staff that there would be no paycheck after August 1 and that they were under no obligation to stay on.
     Although the state had stopped paying us, they had not removed our "guests" so our mission field was intact even though our pocketbook was not. We considered closing down the ranch but after much prayer agreed that God had called us and had issued no "change of work orders." We believed He wanted us to continue as we were and to trust Him.
     For a long time there was tension as needs continued and nothing seemed to break on the financial scene. The largest problem was that although staff saw themselves as missionaries, they did not have the prayer support usual to missionaries. They did however have the heart of true missionaries and accepted all things as from the Lord with a spirit of rejoicing.
     We did not have any liberty in our minds to tell others our needs but this drove us more often to our knees. We prayed, "Lord, speak to those who listen to Your voice and impress upon them the opportunity to be part of Your work here."
     It was with real amazement that we watched God stir up people from many walks of life to respond to His voice. Often He motivated missionaries to share with us. This was humbling as we knew what a sacrifice this was for them.

(To be continued)

Today I am thankful for people with faith.

Holy Spirit or Madison Avenue? (1st of 6)

The Story of Flying H Youth Ranch   

     "We are experiencing a severe financial crisis. If you can enclose a special gift of $25 or more--"  It's one more appeal from one more Christian ministry. You already give to some; you don't even remember asking to be included on this one's mailing list!
     As your hand hovers over the wastebasket, frantic words underlined in red catch your eye: "We need to hear from you! Even $10 will help."
     Reluctantly, you put the letter back on your desk.

GOD OR GUILT?
     What methods are Christian organizations using to raise funds? Those of the Holy Spirit--or Madison Avenue? What motivates us to give to these organizations, God or guilt?
     What would happen to a mission which actually let the Holy Spirit move people to give when and as much as He willed, without any human arm-twisting?
     In 1962, G. Allen Hires, a minister with a wife and eight children, agreed to help Youth for Christ set up a week-long camp for delinquent boys in the mountains outside Yakima, Washington. They ended up establishing the Flying H Youth Ranch, a year-round ministry for boys who are referred to them by welfare agencies and juvenile halls.
     It was the policy of the staff never to tell anyone but God their needs nor to solicit funds. Faith had worked for George Mueller, who founded an orphanage in England a century ago. But--here in America in the 20th century? Allen and Freeda Hires determined to find out.
     Here is the account of that experiment as told by the Rev. Hires:

"WE GAVE YOU OUR WORST"
      Freeda and I had only $50 and no prospect of more when we made an offer on a beautiful dude ranch in the Cascade Mountains. The Lord brought in the money for the first month's rent the night before it was needed and continued to supply until we were able to purchase the property.
     God gave us the ranch and the State of Washington gave us teenage boys. How they gave us boys! Years later they told us, "We gave you the worst delinquents we could trust to be out in the community and sat back to see how you would make out."
     We started with 15 boys. Bit by bit we began to see the deeply hidden anger in these young men who had been rejected by family, school, authorities, and society. Many of them came to my office to talk. Often a boy and I would cry together as he finally faced the fact that he was not wanted by those closest to him. When by myself, I would pray that the children would know they are wanted by someone besides the police!

(To be continued)

Today I am thankful for good foster homes.

HOW TO BE RICH - (3) Be generous

     In some missionary magazine--World Vision, maybe--I read about a banquet held for their supporters which I have never forgotten. The evening was festive, the attendees dressed up and expectant. Efficient servers poured from the kitchen with steaming plates of chicken, vegetables and rice, salad, and a roll and placed them in front of every third person. Then they disappeared back into the kitchen.
      Those who had been served waited politely for those next to them to receive their plates. But as time went on, those without food urged their neighbors to go ahead and eat, while the food was hot. Some did, some offered portions of their dinner to those next to them, some continued to wait.
     Finally, after about 20 minutes, the servers appeared again. This time they carried smaller plates. They put these plates before those seated to the right of the ones already served.
     These plates had only rice and beans on them.
     After another 30 minutes, the last third of the guests were served. They were given bowls of thin gruel.
     When people had had time to take in the disparity, the speaker for the evening rose and addressed them. He pointed out that one-third of the world had abundant food to eat every day. One-third of the world had adequate food, nothing fancy and little variety, but enough to stay alive. And one-third of the world went to bed hungry every night.
     He pointed out that when the hungry are sitting right beside us, our natural reaction is to share what we have with them. It is because we are separated by countries or continents that we can ignore their need.
     "Give as freely as you have received." One evening, years ago, my husband and I invited another couple to a church potluck. Because they were our guests and because their family of five lived off the husband's income so the wife could be a stay-at-home mom for their three teenagers, we did not ask them to bring anything. We brought two casseroles.
     At the end of the evening, each of our dishes were still about half-full. My husband put the covered dishes in the trunk of our car and we started to drive the other couple home.
     As my husband drove, God nudged me. I've felt His nudges before and I knew this was Him. He nudged me to give the leftovers to the other couple. I knew the wife, especially, had enjoyed the rare opportunity to eat out, eating food she didn't have to cook. She had exclaimed with pleasure over the casseroles.
     BUT--I didn't want to. I wanted to keep them for us.
     So we dropped the couple off without mentioning the leftovers and we drove home.
     The next morning I realized my husband and I had both forgotten to take the casseroles out of the trunk. The food in them was highly perishable and we didn't dare eat them.
     So instead of one couple enjoying the food and the other enjoying sharing the food, nobody enjoyed them.
     Because I closed my heart to the needs of others.
  

Today I am thankful for inhouses (as opposed to outhouses).

HOW TO BE RICH - (2) Be obedient

    There are lots of paradoxes in the Bible: die to live, put yourself last to be first, put others first to have your own needs met. Here's another: "Seek first the kingdom of God and what has His approval. Then all these things will be provided for you," Matthew 6:33.
     In context, Jesus is talking about the necessities of life. Only one woman had the foresight to send along with her little boy a lunch when he went out in the hills to listen to Jesus. Five little buns and two small fish. It was enough to feed the boy and that's all. But when he gave it all to Jesus, it became enough to feed him plus thousands of other people--with left-overs. 
     It's like that with everything we have. I heard somewhere of another little boy who, when the offering basket was passed to him in church, put it on the floor and stepped into it to signify that he was giving himself to God.  It's the principle of constant self-emptying for constant sufficiency. Jesus first called people to himself and then sent them out from himself to others--with food, with healing, with the gospel.
     Start with a tithe (10%). Make it the first 10%, take it off the top. Give God your best and trust Him for the rest: "'Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,'" says the LORD of Heaven's Armies, "'I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!'" Malachi 3:10, New Living Translation.
     I've shared how this worked for my mother in The King's Treasury and I'm going to share in a couple of days how it worked for a couple who started a boys' ranch in Naches, Washington. If you don't give what you have to God and let Him tell you how you spend or use it, there won't be enough even for you, much less others. I'll give you an example of that from my own life tomorrow.
     Giving to God and watching him work miracles with your pittance can be habit-forming. Some people--Texas philanthropist R.G. LeTourneau (with wife Evelyn) and Pastor Rick Warren (with wife Kay) come to mind--gave Him 90% and lived, thrived even, on the tithe.

Today (I'm not sure why) I am thankful for the versatility of fingernails, for such things as scratching hard to reach places (and my husband's back) and tightening screws.

HOW TO BE RICH - (1) Be grateful

NOTE: This starts a series, Faith and Finances, which will include three posts on "How to Be Rich" and six on "Holy Spirit or Madison Avenue?" which may offer more personal help to you than you think in struggling with your financial priorities.

Three Biblical principles will ensure you will always be wealthy.

Principle #1: BE GRATEFUL
     The United Nations defines "rich" as "having more than you need."
     How much more? According to Mr. Micawber in Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield, "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery."
     Being rich is an attitude, a choice. It is seeing yourself as having enough. The Bible talks about godliness with contentment being great gain, 1 Timothy 6:6-7. We can be content with what we have when we realize that we have Him and He is enough. (People I know and people I have read about who have been stripped of everything but Him verify that fact.)
     Clarke's Commentary, in commenting on verse 6 (scroll down to Parallel Commentaries for several good ones), says, "So, if a man have the life of God in his soul, and just a sufficiency of food and raiment to preserve and not burden life, he has what God calls great gain, an abundant portion."
     I am not an expert at being contented but sometimes when I walk through a store I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude that I don't need anything in it.

Today I am thankful for curly fries.  They're cute as pigs' tails and fun to eat and they taste good. I'm also thankful I don't need them.