Mike, Money, & Malachi

By: Lynn Bolster 

When my journey with TFC Global began in 2015, I knew I would meet drivers and hear their tales and testimonies. So this month I am sharing one that impacted me when I first heard it a few years ago. Mike Smith, who was a member of the former York-Adams chapter of TFC Global, is a man who has lived the trucking brotherhood, a great family man, and someone who loves the Lord. Since so many of us struggle with money, myself included, I thought his experiences would benefit us. What follows is his story.

 

I accepted Jesus into my heart in 1982. My wife Kathy and I were married in September 1976. Two months later, I began trucking long distance, staying out for long periods of time. In 1977 we ended up separating for five years until 1982.

One year before I came to know the Lord, Kathy and her church started to pray that I would get saved. The Lord let me get pretty low. During that time I thought about taking my life but before that happened I wanted to see my son so I tried to find Kathy. I had no idea where they lived but I knew where her brother lived so I went to see him.

Kathy later told me that a few days before that, the Lord told her in a plain voice that I was coming back. Shortly after, I knocked at her brother’s door and when his wife answered, she just looked at me, stunned, because Kathy had told them what God had told her. When I asked where Kathy was, she stepped out. Eventually, we got back together and are still with each other to this day.

I was saved on the kitchen floor while Kathy led me in prayer and then I made my decision public that night at church. When we went to church, people acted like they knew me. I’ll never forget the altar call. I held onto the pew in front of me, it was shaking, and I felt God convicting me and Satan pulling me back. I gave in to the Lord.

I still had a lot to learn. One area was handling money. God taught me about tithing. Tithing is giving 10% of your income to your church. We lived on $200 – $300 a week, some weeks less. Once I only had enough to pay the light bill but not enough to tithe. I had received a shut-off notice, so I asked the pastor what I should do. He showed me a scripture about tithing in Malachi 3:10 and encouraged me to pay the tithe on Sunday morning. That afternoon a friend bought my old pickup truck and we had enough to pay for both lights and food.

Next, we didn’t have heat because there wasn’t any fuel in the barrel. I met a driver in Harrisburg, and we discussed how good God is. He called me later and asked me to come over. As I was leaving, he handed me a check and said the Lord told him to do it. When Kathy looked at the check, she said praise the Lord, it was exactly what we needed to get 100 gallons of fuel!

Malachi 3:10 says: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” A third time we didn’t have enough to pay the tithe and house bills. I paid the tithe and three days later a couple from church came with food and then the fuel truck delivered again. Kathy had to take pots and pans out of the cupboards so all the food would fit – those were the blessings flowing out, just as God’s word had promised! I learned that I can’t outgive God. He still blesses us so much today, and every time we give we get back more – praise the Lord!

Mike’s testimony shows how we need to depend on God’s promises even when they don’t match up with how most of us think. We, as believers, are called to be in this world but not of this world. Being “of this world” means following the unbelieving world’s values, beliefs, and conduct. We, as Christians, are to follow what Christ says and reflect it by our words and actions even when it doesn’t make sense to us.

Pastor Peter Marshall said, “give according to your income lest God make your income according to your giving.” Evangelist Todd White says, “what you put in your hand shrinks, but what you put in God’s hand multiplies.” Tithing may be hard to do, but test it we must.