Nearly forty  years ago, when the Lord delivered me out of the pit of destruction (I’m channeling Psalm 40) that was a big oppressive church and when He showed my wife and me the Psalm (#66) with our names and situation in bold print, I made three vows.

I would live simply.  I would give generously.  I would encourage pastors.

The last of these I do all the time.  In fact, that’s what this website is all about, the encouragement of the Lord’s shepherds.

The first of these is a relative term, I suppose.  What living simply means in one culture would be something entirely different in another.  So, I’m going to leave that there.

But the second one is what this is all about.

I have decided to do something I have never done and may never do again.

I have never told others how much I give.

Today, I’m going to do that.

I’m not sure why.  Maybe it will be apparent some day.

It can’t hurt.  I have no congregation and no one to vote for me or against me.  No group of people to get up and walk out of church because I’m doing something they don’t like.  If I am.

No one really cares.

So, it’s just me.

These days in retirement, my income is basically two things but with the occasional smaller things.

Social security, which is about $27,000 annually.  And $24,000 a year from my retirement account at Guidestone, the retirement annuity place for our denomination. We refer to that as “housing allowance.” I have to justify housing expenses to the IRS and anything left over–i.e., when the total comes to less than 24k, which it usually does–I pay taxes on.  Together, that’s a steady $51,000 annual income.

The “smaller things,” which means secondary income, would include payment for articles I write for a couple of denominational publications.  And love gifts from churches that invite me to preach and minister.  These days, with me staying home as caregiver for my Bertha, that is pretty much drying up.

So, here’s what I give and have been giving the last few years.

First, my regular consistent giving–

To my church, the First Baptist Church of Jackson, MS, I give a monthly check of $1,000.  That’s $12,000 per year.

To my seminary, the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, I give $150 a month.  $1,800 annually.

To the Global Maritime Ministry–the New Orleans based outreach to ships crews from all over the world and local port workers–I give $100 per month.  $1,200.

To Campus Crusade for Christ (they call themselves “Cru” now) to support the ministry of a friend overseeing the work on campuses in North Carolina, I give $50 a month.  $600 annually. (This friend came to Christ under the ministry of my wife Bertha and her husband Gary, many years ago in Boston.  The friend has logged a full career in campus ministry.  Bertha contributes $150/month.)

To a wonderful ministry called “Discovering the Jewish Jesus” with Rabbi Kirt A. Schneider of Blissfield, Michigan, I give $100 a month.  $1200 a year.

Then, there are occasional gifts–irregular, as I’m able and as the Lord prompts me–to other ministries:  The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, an evangelist friend who was called into that ministry when I was one of his pastors over a half century ago, a crisis pregnancy center, and the special offerings of my church.

On top of that is the usual, general generosity such as all God’s children do: gifts to the homeless, to maids in hotels, servers in restaurants, and such.

The bottom line, of course, is that I do not have a specific number for gifts in this last category.

The regular monthly gifts comes to $16,800 a year.  If my income is 51,000, then I’m giving somewhere between 30 and 40 percent annually.  And on top of that is the occasional gifts as listed above.

Complicating this is my outside income, which varies of course.

I’m going to say that I am giving one-third of my income to our Lord Jesus Christ.

I hope He counts that as “giving generously,” which was my original vow.

It’s not nearly enough, of course.  As the song says, Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.

Nothing I give, no amount, no sacrifice, is sufficient.

And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner. And when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume….. Jesus said to the Pharisee, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  You gave me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet.  You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume.  For this reason I say to you, her sins which are many, have been forgiven, for she loves much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.’ (Luke 7:36ff)

I love that story.  She is me. I am her.

I cannot give enough, will never give too much, cannot thank Him enough.