There are things in life I want. When when I say things, I mean THINGS. Like a coffee at Starbucks, not to mention that awesome new mug they now sell. Like a bike. A better tennis racket. A coffee maker. That awesome Nikon 85mm 1.4 lens. Cowboy boots. Bird feeders for the yard. A big dining room table and chairs to go with it. I can go on and on.
But we’re in the mission field… and we so clearly see what we have, and others don’t. We see the things we want, and we see how mothers can’t feed their families, we see children running around naked because there are no clothes, we see men working their land with a spoon, a spoon people?!
As of now, us doing non profit work brings with it financial limitations for ourselves. And yet Tim and I feel we are still able to buy things when we want it. And we want to be more conscious. More conscious of our spending, more conscious of our wants, more conscious of what others do not have, more conscious how we can help out in that, and we certainly want the things we buy to be a very conscious choice.
And so, we started our ‘Project Can’.Ever since I got to the Sates, I have really missed having a bike. I miss being able to jump on my bike for a errand. I would so love for us to ride bikes together, for fun and as a way of transportation (I know, not very American like). It was time to make it happen. It was time to start making choices. If we want one thing in life, we may have to pass on the other. And that is what we did. We decided to turn my Dutch can, given to me by my grandmother, into our ‘Bike fund’. Every time we wanted to do something like go to a Union game, or get a Starbucks for it was convenient, or a dinner out for that matter but we decided not to do it, the money we would have spend would go into our ‘bike fund’. 
It was very interesting how many things we could pass on for something better, for a bigger purpose. We also started to sell stuff we had around the house but could do without. I sold clothes. And soon enough we had the money to buy our first bike. I had the first pick. I picked a bike that is similar to the bikes we ride in Holland, and I am trying to pimp it up with Dutch things like a bag and bell (Can someone tell me why bikes in the States do not come with a bell? Instead of a bell people yell :” On your left, on your left”. It really does not make sense to me.) In any case, having this bike has such worth to me for we had to save for it, we had to leave other things out for it. We are on to saving for bike number two…
I found Sarah’s blog today. Her family is in a 3 month trial to be intentional about their spendings, all for the goal to give away. They feel blessed with what they have, they longed to give away but felt they could give away if they would just have a little more first. Well the little more came, and yet their spendings stayed within the family. Until Sarah awaked. They are blessed with financial stability, they want to bless others with what they have been given. Her two posts about this are awesome. It didn’t just change her way of thinking, but even her little girls are making conscious choices. If you feel God blessed you with much, and you want to share with those who have little, certainly go over to read her post! It really is encouraging!
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Aww I love that you are using your Grandma’s can in this way! I am so glad we “met” and that God is using us to encourage each other. Thank you for the shout out! 🙂