I was just reading from Psalm 50 where God is speaking, and He says this:

"Hear O my people, and I will speak... I am God, your God...
I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices... which are ever before me.
I have no need of a bull from your stall or of a goat from your pens,
for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills...
If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it...
sacrifice thank offerings to God..."

That is such a noteworthy truth- God doesn't NEED anything from me (or from you). His cause isn't going to suffer if you and I aren't a part of it. On the other hand, when we do join His cause, we partner with the one who has every resource imaginable at His disposal, so we should develop the habit of watching in awe as He provides and then giving thanks as our act of service.

This week I've had the opportunity to see Him provide. There were no cattle needed, but he provided buses, basketballs, kids and courts for a ministry that He wanted to bless- and He didn't really need our help in doing it.

We've known for months that Joe Odhiambo and Bay Forrest were going to be coming to Durban, speaking at a number of schools and presenting the gospel through a basketball presentation. We wanted to arrange a small basketball clinic while they were here, but up until a few weeks ago, it seemed uncertain whether or not that would work out. Two weeks ago I was sitting in a meeting with the chairman for the Durban basketball association and he was talking about wanting to promote three one-day clinics, bus kids in from various schools, provide basketballs and book the venues for us. I sat there wondering, first of all, "What is his motive and will it conflict with this ministry?" Second of all, "There is less than 2 weeks before this is supposed to happen, can anyone really organize all that in this space of time?" And third, "If we do have these clinics, and if they are going to be big, how in the world are we going to run them with so little staff?"

Well, here's the part where I just give God the sacrifice of a thank offering, because He didn't really need me or my help to work out the rest.

The guy who was the head of the basketball association organized 100 basketballs for us to use, he had someone book two indoor venues for us which each had 2 full courts (and indoor basketball courts are not easy to come by here), and someone managed to get the word out to the schools and arrange transport for a lot of kids to come. Monday we had almost 100 kids, Tuesday there were around 80, and Wednesday I didn't count, but there were a lot!

As for actually running the clinics, I guess you don't really need a lot of staff, you just need someone who really knows what they are doing. Joe knew what he was doing.. There were bascially just 5 of us there working with the clinic each day, but even with so many kids and so little staff, everything ran smoothly. Each day, after a time of basketball instruction by Joe, Bay would gather the kids together and share a challenge from God's Word with them. Then we would finish out the day with a little more basketball.

For me, it was a very fun week, not only because I got to be around basketball so much, which I always enjoy, but also because I got to see God work everything out. He took care of all the details, provided the right men for the right jobs and brought the kids who needed to be there.

What the long term fruit will be, only God knows. But that too is well within His means. We will just continue to watch and give thanks- that's our role. The rest God can do- with or without our help!