Art and design by Vicki Priest. “In truth, no human alive can fathom how much, how sweetly and how how tenderly, our Maker loves us,” Julian of Norwich.
I’ve come across this idea a couple of times from a well-regarded Christian university website: Don’t think that you deserve a job. The first time I saw this, I was dismayed, and after coming across it again, I had to think about it more (remember to count to ten before responding when angry!) and organize my thoughts. The statement didn’t advise that you shouldn’t think you deserve a certain job, just that you don’t deserve a job.
Most People Need to be Employed in Order to Survive in Our World
In our urban day and age, most persons rely on a job (or multiple jobs) to live. Very few of us (and probably none that are able to read this) are hunter-gatherers anymore, and sadly, very few of us are even farmers. Most all of us have jobs because those with the means control the land and wealth, and today, a very few people control a vast amount of wealth. There used to be movies made about the rich, the banks, the industrious turned industrial, taking over family farms (and the like) by any means necessary. These weren’t just movies, of course, but were made to show an unfairness and a harm in our “free” society. As our society became more and more industrial and urban, fewer and fewer people were left the dignity of working out their own livelihood.
I’ve always wanted to write about Amanda Smith, and here I’ll introduce her. I’m sure she must be known in some circles, but when I first read about her over a decade ago, I was actually shocked. I had never heard of her, even though she was an international evangelist and missionary. Why is that?
Generally, we tend here, in America, to not learn much history, and when we attempt it, it seems all stale and dry, and no one seems to remember much. Otherwise, I think we are still a male dominated culture, no matter what people say or how we can point to how long respect and equality have been taught in schools. Amanda was black and female, and she experienced much prejudice on both counts in this country. During her stays in other countries, including Great Britain, she was treated with respect and without prejudice. Also, religious history and biography are not taught in school much, and churches basically stick to teaching the Bible or their own flavor of doctrine, and ignore historical and biographical lessons. You can find quite a few references to Amanda online, but I read of her in Six Qualities of Women of Character by Debra Evans (Zondervan Publishing House 1996).
But what about Amanda; what is her story? Amanda was born into slavery, in Maryland, in 1837. Thankfully, her family was one that was permitted to stay together. She knew her grandmother and her father, although her father worked so incredibly hard, she probably saw him little until their eventual freedom. Her parents were faithful Christians, and her mother and grandmother prayed for the salvation of their young mistress, Celie. Celie indeed became saved, but soon after contracted typhoid fever and died. Her death bed wish to her parents was to let free her slaves, who were her Christian siblings. Her parents granted her request and Amanda became free at the age of 13.
While she experienced the faith of her immediate family, she felt that she needed a conversion experience. She needed to make a commitment herself. This she did at a Baptist revival meeting in 1856; she was forever changed and strengthened by relationship with Christ that began then. Her life was hard and she needed the Lord’s strength! She married a man at 17, and he turned out to be an alcoholic. Their marriage was full of strife, but it didn’t last long as her husband was killed in the Civil War. She had a daughter by this marriage, Mazie, and Amanda worked hard indeed for her well-being.
Her second marriage wasn’t much better. The man she married tricked her into thinking he was going to be appointed minister in a local church, which Amanda was thrilled about. But after the marriage, she found that he in fact had given up the thought of ministering for Christ. Can you imagine this deception, how it would feel to one who was overjoyed at the thought of being able to serve her Lord fully, and in fellowship with a group of other passionate believers?
After this, desiring affirmation from God, a confirmation of her salvation and desire to be close to God and serve Him, she prayed. She encountered the Holy Spirit twice one night in September 1868,
. . . a wave came over me, and such a welling up in my heart . . . . How I have lived through it I cannot tell, but the blessedness of the love and the peace and power I can never describe. O, what a glory filled my soul! The great vacuum in my soul began to fill up; it was like a pleasant draught of cool water, and I felt it. I wanted to shout Glory to Jesus! . . . . Just as I put my foot on the top step I seemed to feel a hand, the touch of which I cannot describe. It seemed to press me gently on the top of my head, and I felt something part and roll down and over me like a great cloak! I felt it distinctly; it was done in a moment, and O what a mighty peace and power took possession of me! (Amanda Smith, in An Autobiography: The Story of the Lord’s Dealings with Amanda Smith [1894], as quoted in Evans pp 180-181.)
Amanda now felt that the Lord was with her, in control of her life no matter how hard it was, and she prayed constantly and learned from her Lord during the most tedious of times. She talked with anyone she could about Christ, finding it easy after taking the effort to start. While her husband was alive, her ministry was local, but after he died things changed. She began ministering at meetings in New Jersey, and soon found herself being invited to speak and sing at revival meetings all across the U.S. She soon felt God telling her to minister in Africa and India, but she was to go to Great Britain first.
While fearful of crossing the Atlantic, she finally realized that her fear showed a lack of trust in God. She eventually repented and made the watery trek. God had a surprise in store for Amanda, and no doubt a confidence boosting mission it was: the captain of the ship asked Amanda to conduct the ship’s services. Though there was prejudice against her on that voyage, she won everyone over by the time the trip was over.
In Great Britain, she was welcomed with open arms. It didn’t matter that she was black, or female. She had thought that her time there would be about three months, but she preached around the whole of England and Scotland for two years. She met and was respected by those in the upper class, and these helped her in her future work for the Lord. Her daughter’s room and board in America were paid for, so she needn’t worry about that, and her trip to India finally became a reality. The poverty and the very poor treatment of women she saw there “gripped her heart instantly.” The experience made her realize something that affected her ministry the rest of her life–that evangelism must be coupled with the meeting of practical human needs as well.
Next, she ministered in Liberia, touching and influencing many lives there for eight years. When she came back to the United States she worked with African-American orphans and opened an orphanage in the Chicago area. She was able to do this with the funds garnered from her memoirs. In her final few years of life, Amanda was able to enjoy Florida in a donated home. She died in 1915, having lived a beautiful life of giving and loving.
A missionary to India, Bishop James Thoburn, said this of Amanda:
Through my association with her I learned many valuable lessons, more that has been of actual value to me as a preacher of Christian truth than from any other person I have ever met (Evans p 186).
Thank you, Lord, for blessing Amanda and blessing us through her example!
Hello everyone – how are you all doing? It’s been an unusually long time since I made a blog post, but looking for mortgages (loan shopping), looking for properties, taking cars into shops and looking for a new car, etc., surely takes one time up! Since I’ve been in this mode and have learned some new things, I thought I’d pass a little of my new-found knowledge along.
So we are low-income (and recently lost some monthly income) and our rent went up. But we have some funds to use for a down-payment, so it’s time to buy a condo if we can find one. Why? Where we live, it costs less per month to pay a low-end mortgage and homeowner’s association fees (HOA), than it is to rent. Seems silly, huh?
Leaving the vagaries of renting vs paying a mortgage aside, there’s this thing that exists in our country called a land-lease (not all states allow this for condos/houses, apparently, and for good reason). I have read a number of realtor’s comments and articles on this and this is what I have to say: don’t buy into the idea that there are good reasons to buy a condo or house on leased land. Buying a manufactured home in a mobile home park MAY be worth it, but I’m not talking about mobile homes.
Ok, so this came as a shock to me that you could BUY a condo on land you don’t own. The lease tends to be a lot, and they also have high HOAs. So how, possibly, could this help anyone but the leaseholder? But wait, you might say. What if you buy the home and the lease is finally paid up – don’t you own it all then? That would make sense, right? And it would make up, maybe, for paying the lease for all that time (up to 99 years, I’ve seen). But NO, you BUY a condo, but when the lease is up it’s NOT YOURS. This is what I’ve read; this is my understanding. If you buy a condo or home on leased land and you want to sell and get your money back from the investment you made in the property, you might be dreaming. If the lease is almost up, no one in his/her right mind is going to spend their good money on a home that will be “theirs” for only few years!
I saw a condo here recently that was very attractive, very cute, in a nice area (it only had one parking spot, however). They were asking a fairly low price for the condo itself ($139K), but the lease was around $3,300 annually right now (this is actually a low lease), with scheduled increases to $6,814 annually by 2031. The HOA was a very high $584 per month. Another listing didn’t provide either the lease cost or the HOA. Ok, another is one of those deals where the listing agent sucks in unwary people: a nice condo listed for a ridiculously low price (about 25% of comparable ones in the area), with a bit higher than average HOA, and NO mention of it being a land-lease.
Finally, one in the city where I live. An OK looking condo for not all that cheap of a price (in a perhaps an OK area, but not a great area), with $412 HOA and no lease price provided. Let’s say you were able to put down 20% on a mortgage for this place (but good luck with even finding a bank to give you a mortgage for this type of property). The monthly payments would be about $780 per month. Property tax would be minimal. There’s the $412 HOA, and the lease is . . . what? Just for the heck of it, let’s provide a lease that is kind-of average for a mobile home lease in the region: $1,000 per month. That would leave you paying $2192 per month for you basic housing needs.
We’re looking to buy a small regular condo and our monthly costs will be between about $1,025 and $1,420, and that includes property tax. So how does the land-lease option help lower income people, or help to save on monthly costs? It doesn’t; it only helps the landowner. And you will not gain equity in that home. You will be lucky if you get the same amount back for it as you paid. This is what I’ve read from real estate agents and others. One good side to owning, some people try to suggest, is that the place will be better maintained and generally nicer than a cheaper condo or apartment, so it’s better for families. Well. I say don’t throw away your hard-earned cash and be patient, do some more searching, etc. (Build good credit; it’s kind-of astonishing how much of a difference one-half of one percent makes on your monthly payment.) Save that money for your kids’ college education and don’t just throw it at some land-owner who’s sitting back making all kinds of cash off you for simply roosting on his land.
With Christian Eyes 