For Christmas, the kids at the school held a fund-raiser to get money enough to buy clothes from a thrift-store for children at an orphanage in Lae. My kids wanted to participate. I may have said this before, but my kids far outdo me in the generosity department.
Per capita, my kids give (what little money they can earn or raise) away more money than I ever did when I was their age.
One night at dinner my son brought this up and said "I would like to donate K20 to this" and so, to encourage him I replied, "I will match whatever you give up to K50". (I don't mind sharing the real numbers because they are nothing to boast about.)
Well, donation time came, and my son and daughter asked "Dad was that K50 each?" I had to think about it. And replied 'yes'.
So my children got together and plotted. My son after having spent his money (he saved like a miser) for Christmas gifts, had slightly more than K50 to donate, and my daughter had slightly less. So my son plotted to give his sister the difference so that they could get the full 'MATCHING' out of me.
That night at dinner I had no idea what I had committed to and before I knew it, the orphanage was getting much more money out of the Owens household than I had anticipated.
Apparently my kids didn't need encouragement, they knew it was a good thing to do. What I did was give them a way to work the system, which they did, and I have respect for that too. (I would like to see more of this creative financing used in ministry.)
So, the team went to Lae, and bought the clothing and helped at the orphanage with repairs. In the end it turned out they needed more money than they had asked for (originally asking for K20 per family)... as the clothing cost more than anticipated, but because donations had exceeded what they asked for, every child was able to receive multiple outfits for school and home, etc.
I have said this before. No matter how much work my wife and I do in this country, there is a part of me that wonders, if God called us all here, so that my KIDS could minister. Because when they act on their faith, it ministers to the world.
