Loaves and Fish Part II

This is a sequel of sorts to my last entry, "Loaves and Fish" -- so much so that I came up with terribly inspired title, "Loaves and Fish Part II".

November 22nd was an early morning for me. The Vineyard Boise, the part of the body of Christ I call home, was celebrating its 20th anniversary. As the Director of Media Production, my biggest responsibility is Sunday, mixing videos and camera angles, and recording the services for web and DVD distribution.

The aforementioned camera that I currently own finds itself regularly employed in my use as a third camera angle on Sundays, and this Sunday would be no different. I walked up to the station's tripod, took out my camera, locked it on, and hooked it up to the coax feed running through the floor of the sanctuary back to the mixer.

I recall God making some kind of joke, at least it seemed like Him, but for the life of me I can't remember it. Probably not important to this story, but I just remember that He said something funny, and made me chuckle a little.

I made my way back to the production booth, and got everything up and running. A thought struck me, and I looked back to this camera in the corner, currently mine, but not for long. Call me pathetic, but I get attached to my gear, not in a matter of identity, but the fondness one develops for his favorite tool. It's almost a friendship.

Then a thought hit me, "You could just give your camera to the church, instead of selling it and giving the money from the sale to the church. Then, you know where your camera is, what it's being used for...and you won't have to deal with eBay. You'd probably get more of a tax credit than what you could sell it for, anyway."

That last line caused me to halt. Was that God? Or my rationale? Was my flesh trying to do something to spoil my gift? After all, the whole point of this was to help with the church's mortgage.

I approached my friend and fellow worker Doug, who had offered to help me with eBay if I needed him. Point blank, I told him the thoughts that had crossed my mind, and what I was originally considering, and asked him, "Is this the same thing as that?"

He looked at me and replied, "If you sell your camera, we have to buy a replacement camera."

Hm. Hadn't thought about that. Because the church had become so dependent on my personal gear (not a new thing -- I often fill the gap with my own stuff), if I were to sell my gear, it could potentially actually cost the church, because while they'd have maybe $2,000 or so to put towards the mortgage, they'd have to spend $3,000 or more to replace my camera.

It was at about that point that I found myself looking up at the heavens (well, actually the ceiling) and wagging my finger at God, saying aloud, "I see what you did, there."

So, this week or next (depending on how this week looks, because I have the week off), I'll be dropping by the office and giving the church my gear, getting a receipt of donation, and waiting six months to see what God does through tax returns or other means.

In the interim, I've already had one friend just today offer to give me, for free, a very nice lighting kit with some awesome accessories. I haven't even given Jesus my loaves and fish yet and He's already bringing the new gear in!

I'm excited to see what's next. And it's very fitting that this is Thanksgiving week.