In PNG they don't sell paint in gallons. They sell them in 4liter cans (a gallon) and 15 liter cans (close to 4 gallons).
They sell flat bases, and then you have the paint tinted.
In PNG, the price for paint is $17 per liter
In Australia that same paint is $17 per liter
In the U.S. that same paint is under $12 per liter (It's hard to do a price comparison because there is such variety in the U.S.)
Now I am told that Paint is one of those precious few things in life where you get what you pay for.
We were given a gift of $2000 to help buy paint. Which was awesome! So we drove to town, and did the calculations and we could choose to either do the INSIDE or the OUTSIDE for that amount but not both. To do both would be another sum of money, around $1300
My wife and I deliberated over this. We didn't come here to do home improvement, we didn't want to spend money on this house. We felt discouraged because we had already done all we wanted to for maintenance and repair of our current home, and now, we were going to have to start over because we are compelled to move.
There is a supreme amount of satisfaction knowing that me, a man in my 30's was able to with creativity take a home built in the 60's that was falling apart in some places, and make it livable and usable for future families.
But that dream has changed. I'm nearly a 40 year old man now, and another family will never live in this house, because it's being turned into office buildings for a local school.
Our break even point was 6 years. Meaning, that I have tallied all costs of living in the house, verses renting a place, and have determined that if we lived in that house for 6 years, we would have broken even and all time AFTER that, would be gravy. Plus we wouldn't be forced to move, because we weren't renting.
Wrong.
We're moving in Sept.
And given the added expenses, the break even point is now 8 years. Which means, we have another year and a half before we'll have reached the break even point. Why? Because we want the house to be in good repair. We want to paint, we want to fix things up a bit, so that the future of the house is good. The house was built in the 90's, but the weather and life here, has taken a bit of a toll.
Long story short, we were about $1300 too low for what we wanted to do.
My wife and I sat there and deliberated and crunched numbers and after much fuss, I decided 'look, it'll need to be done, the dollar is constantly losing power against the kina, it'll be more affordable now than in 2 years, let's do it and trust God it's the right thing and to supply the money."
We prayed. I was not at all convinced that God wanted me to paint the house. I felt morally obliged to, but it was a social obligation, not a spiritual conviction. I honestly feel, (and this is my upbringing and culture) that you should leave something the same if not better than you originally received it. A house is something you care for, and it becomes a home. This particular house was built by Bible translators, and it has been loved and used in ministry. It has been rented now for a number of years so it hasn't been subject to the same care as it would had it's owners lived in it. So I couldn't let myself live in a house and not repair/maintain parts of it that need it. But I also couldn't see spending moneys intended for supporting Bible translation on home repair. Every bit of home repair we've done, has either been free (by creatively finding materials and doing labor myself), or by specially designated gifts from supporters.
So there I was, torn between what seemed right, and what is frugal. And we prayed. Now I know not every culture feels the same way as I do. I know that people have different attitudes about how to care for and maintain property. (for example I have been told that in Japan, there is no market for 'used' equipment. There is no 'Ebay', culturally, they buy everything new, and throw their old stuff away. Which means dumpster divers hit the motherload!).
We went ahead and bought all the paint we needed. We were hoping, that God would somehow supply the extra $1300 we needed.
We drove home the next day and I got this email from my sister.
"Chad, I got this odd letter from the bank. You have about $1300 sitting in the account they said has been dormant for a while, would you like to claim it?"
It turns out, that Bank of America had tracked me down some 15 years after I had closed an account, to tell me I still had money in it. Is that not amazing?!
Tell me that isn't God's timing! Tell me that letter was going to come any other day any other year regardless. Tell me there is no chance that God knew we'd need that money some 15 years ago, and had me 'accidentally' leave money in it. Tell me that was coincidence, and then, better get your spittle guard, because I'm going to laugh in your face.
He does this for us all the time. Frequently. And each time I get goose bumps. This time, He got really creative and pulled in a bank I haven't used since before my daughter was born.
God is amazing. I just.... can not.... contemplate.... any kind of life where He's not a part of it. This kind of stuff lifts your soul, encourages your spirit, reminds you that God is alive and intimately involved in your life. Like ivy wrapped around you, He is woven into the details of our lives, and He cares, and He plans, and prepares. He does the heavy lifting, all we really need to do is rely on Him and abide in Him.
