We’ve been doing this for a long time. Living in way that is supported by others who help us to fulfil what we believe is a calling. A calling to challenge poverty.
The only snag is the calling is to live in uncertainty (and fragility) that billions live in. It has been a choice. I’ve even turned down paid work because I believe this is where we are suppose to be. One day it may change.
One day.
Recently, we realised the cost of A Big Expenses. That time when a massive outlay hits you. We’ve all had them. For those in poverty this is seismic.
In our case it was our car. Our lovely Caravelle, which, in itself, was a miraculous provision (we've still never bought a car). Something that is way out of our league. But it's been a massive gift and one that has been able to take us on adventures and meet our growing family’s needs. A family of 6 kind of narrows the car options.
We put it in for a check as the gears weren't working. It turned out to be big. If I was a mechanic I would use words like "mechatronic" but rather this is what I saw and understood: the £3000 price tag.
This would pretty much wipe us out. I started to look at our money. Look at what we could cut out: holidays, other expenses, trips.
When we shared this at our family dinner table we turned straight to each other and said this is not something we could do and Angie immediate went to prayer saying very specifically: please provide.
The one bit of hope came in the form of a warranty. 3 years ago the previous owner said I may wish to extend it. I wasn't convinced. The reason simple: we couldn't afford it. But I took it out because I thought one day we may need it. However, a few months ago when the ignition didn't work we had tried the warranty then. It didn't work. It cost us £700. That was a big shock.
I shared this at the dinner table and Angie changed her prayer to ask for this warranty to work. The boys all joined saying Amen and then continuing the usual dinner shenanigans of labouring over their food, trying to wind each other up. I must confess I left with the growing fear and gloom that there was nothing I could do to pay for this bill.
2 days later Jay from the garage phoned to say I have good news and bad news. The bad news is you have to pay. The good news is it's only the £50 excess for the warranty as it came through.
