Faith Journeys / Myron

I cannot talk about my stewardship journey without describing my Spiritual journey. A wise man once told me that our lives are made up of three parts:

            Physical – our body and the things around us.

            Emotional – love, hate, fear, anxieties, phobias

            Spiritual – our belief in a higher power

They should be balanced and all play a part in our daily existence.

It’s the Spiritual that I would like to tell you about this morning – my Spiritual Journey and it has been and continues to be a journey.

I never had a Damascus experience to make me aware of God. God was always real to me. I grew up in a matriarchal home. My mother was the mover and shaker in our family spiritual life. Attending church was not an option. (Some of you may remember my mother and father. They attended Mount Olive when they lived in the Lutheran Home. My mother was 4’-10” and my dad- was 6’-2”). Their funerals were both at Mount Olive.

While growing up, Sunday School, Luther League and singing in the choir was, well, natural. It must have showed because in teen years in high school I was teased about being a Christian and a churchgoer. You might even say it was an attempt at bullying, but I was not one to be bullied. I may have been small but I was feisty.

When I finished University and settled down in Regina with my wife and family, I had my first permanent job and a steady income. Not long into our new life, my wife & I sat down to talked about our Christian stewardship. How and where we could serve – at this point it was decided that I could teach Sunday School, then came singing in the choir, serving on Church council and taking part in all the activities around church life. Serving as best that I could. It wasn’t always easy. Being council chairperson during a vacancy can be very stressful – trying to fill all the holes left by a pastor’s absence.

What about offering? Well the Bible was our guidebook for most everything so we looked there. It said “first fruits” – we took that to mean off the top, “tithing” – which meant to us 10%. That was our answer. Could we do this with a young family and bills to pay? I had a student loan to pay off. We decided that what we would try was 10% after income tax had been deducted. Not strictly tithing off the top but a start.

It was not easy. There were times when we had to wait for the next paycheck to buy kids shoes. Our car was a 1953 Pontiac that was literally held together with wire, metal screws and metal banding.

But in all things when God is involved, it takes time. When we made our decision in Stewardship, there was no sudden parting of the clouds and a ray of sunshine beaming down on us. We struggled.

But you know what? It didn’t hurt us a bit. We survived.   More than survived. We continue to have struggles in our lives. God does not promise us an easy life. Bottom line is that God has blessed us many times over and still does today.

We love our church family that God has blessed us with. This building is very comfortable and beautiful., and you are a very welcoming and warm congregation.

God continues to bless us and guide us on our journey and this is a journey. When will it end? When my life is over and that is up to God.