I settled an issue with God recently: When I prayed, I knew I had a block. Over and over again our patient God showed me that I had a prideful attachment to my middle class lifestyle. Like many men, I attached my own value to my professional success, rather than to Him. I began to pray (say out loud) that I gave it up, that I now only needed enough for today and to avoid money being a stumbling block.

Why did God make me a middle-class American Christian, I’ve often wondered, why would He strategically place me here? Is it because I would be “saved as by fire”, a Christian who can only believe in the soft, soft, rich environment of the U.S.? Would I never see the truth if I, like my friend from Sudan, was chased by Muslim helicopters for my faith? I so often ask the right question but miss the answer. The average American, even in a down economy, earns many times what others in the world earn. I am an American because I am called to give generously, crazily, sooner rather than later.

God affected another change in my praying. I began to tell God out loud that I would go anywhere and do anything for Him. How can I not when He has pursued me so personally and poured His grace so generously into my life? There are seats at the table of the last feast that are unfilled. How He must ache for those who do not yet see what is so obvious.

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