I BOUGHT A MERCEDES SPRINTER BUS 8 MONTHS AGO FOR PROJECTS.
Only the second project was completed yesterday, February the 17th. It was a trip to bush fire ravaged Bilpin, the famous apple and peach growing area west of Sydney in the Blue Mountains. The goal was to inject some limited capital into the district. A friend asked me to give $200 to a needy person while there, as she couldn’t come. I withdrew $1,000 cash and prayed “Lord, lead us to needy and worthy people today.”
Since all we have belongs to God, we need to seek Him about where to give and not just rely on ‘good ideas’. God says in Proverbs 21:13 “Whoever shuts his ears at the cry of the poor,
will cry out himself and not be answered. So, I prayerfully asked God to guide me to the ‘worthy’ who are in need, who have not ‘shut their ears to the cries of the poor.’ Only God knows who they are and so He will guide me to them.
TripAdvisor lists restaurants in Bilpin and Maggie Lou’s Bite looked suitable. So, I rang and left a message for Maggie ‘10 would be there at midday for lunch.’ We arrived and Maggie’s kitchen assistant was most helpful with information of who was the most needy in town. Unfortunately, some of our group didn’t want to eat there but at the Tomah Gardens Restaurant up the road. I gave the helpful woman 2 $50 notes in lieu as a tip. We were about to drive off and Maggie herself ran out and knocked on my window to protest it was too much and insisted on returning $50 so I could ‘give it to someone ‘more needy’! I said I would pass it on as a gift from her, as it was now her money. She was happy with that idea.
Over lunch the penny dropped! Maggie was the one Jesus had led me to – the needy and the worthy one!
On the way back down the mountain I stopped again at Maggie Lou’s. I explained to our group what I had prayed, how the Lord had led me to Maggie, and that I was going to give another $500 to her because there are very few needy people in the world who would return money given to them! I had found my ‘needy and worthy’ person. Inside, Maggie strongly protested at being offered $500. ‘I can’t accept that!’, she argued. I replied, ‘Yes, you can! You can employ someone in need of a job to do an odd job for you that you would not have had done normally. Anyhow, the money is from Jesus, not me!’ She reluctantly agreed. Back in the bus, and before I could drive off, another staff member ran out and said ‘Maggie wants to know what group you are from?’ I said ‘We are Christians!’ He insisted so the others told him we were Anglicans from The Entrance. People forget that there are no ‘Anglicans’ in heaven! Nor ‘Catholics’ for that matter – only Christians!
True to the assistant’s word, the Tadrosse family further down the mountain, at The Bilpin Fruit Bowl, had a damage bill of over 3 million dollars from the fire – uninsured! Again, for the second time that day, I choked up. They would not even accept a tip for the great assistance they gave me buying and loading into the bus the lovely fruit I had promised to bring back for friends!
I still have $350 left from that $1,000 cash I withdrew. Maybe I will take the grand children up to Maggie Lou’s Bite to enjoy what one review on TripAdvisor called: ‘This was honestly the best cheese burger I have ever eaten.’