Eli

This is a true story...I was there.

In the evening at the crusades there is an offering. Freewill, no one is pressuring you to give. At the crusade there was a family. Mom, dad, grandma, aunts, uncles, kids and cousins. Eli was fourteen. Dragged there by his parents. He half heartedly attended the first day. 9 hours sitting, listening...did I mention he's 14. Friday evening comes and along with it the offering. Somewhere in that time God touched his heart and he had the desire to give. His mom shared later that a year ago she felt the family was to come to this crusade. In order to save the money needed to attend they cut back some things in the home. One of those things was allowance. She said her kids were the only kids she knew that did not get an allowance. So here is Eli with the desire to give but he has no money. That is where this kid went from the ordinary to the exceptional. For his thirteenth birthday his parents had given him a gold necklace. It was the first thing of value he had ever owned. It was his pride. He loved it, he wore it everwhere. Imagine a teenager. It was a part of his identity. Having nothing else to give he leaned over and asked his mom if it would be ok if he gave his necklace. She told him that was his choice, it was his necklace. So that's what he did. He stepped forward to the basket and dropped it in. Just like the widows mite, it did not go unnoticed. The next night just before the offering they called him up and asked what he had given the night before. (This is not normal practice to call people out but God had a plan and it was good.) Eli came forward shrugged his shoulders and said "gave my gold necklace," that's it like it was no big deal. There was more to the story which mom came forward to share. It was a big deal, a tear streaming down his cheek revealed that. He was moved by God and he responded. He gave all that he had. A teenager, gave all that he had. He went back to his seat, if it ended here it would just be a cool story but what happened next made it amazing. A little old lady in the back of the room walked to the front and handed the leaders of the crusade a check. She whispered something to them and walked back to her seat. They were a little taken back and needed to clarify. "If I understand you correctly you want us to take this check in place of the necklace and return the necklace to Eli...is that correct?" Yes that was her wishes. The check was substantial, more than enough to cover the cost of the necklace. They called Eli back forward retrieved the necklace and began to place it around his neck. Something in that room broke. A heart to give, a realization that we were all being taught by a young man. Give out of your heart and God sees, he blesses beyond comprehension. People began to come forward and give him money. The prophets were so touched they began to give to him. The offering underway people kept coming. Money for the prophecy club was for the basket, money for Eli was to be put in the boys hands. Tens, twenties, fives and ones. The wad grew. As he went back to his seat the man leading the offering said he suspected there was $500-600 there. Eli sat down and began to sort it out. He was sitting behind me and I watched as he put it in order and counted. After the offering was a dance and the basket left out until the end of the dance. With the money in order he came forward again and dropped something in the basket. I assumed that's nice he is tithing off that and giving his 10%. Wrong. At the close of the dance, the prophet looked at him and said "You gave more than 10%, was it 25?" His reply blew me away, "NO it was 50%!" He did not have to give a penny of it back, but he did. Does this kid get it or what? I believe he will grow up to do GREAT things for the kingdom, a financer for the kingdom. I hope I am around to see it be so.

Is there something God has asked you to give over to him? Are you going to do it?
In obedience there is blessing, far beyond our comprehension!

Addition: I can not get this song out of my head. Go here than click on What If I Give All.