Ben's Partner

_{by Nicole Madaus}

---- Benjamin Green stood as the second night of the missions conference ended. He shook several hands as he headed toward the door. He got in his car and headed home but he kept thinking about the slides he had seen that night. The missionary Jeff Debney had showed several slides of the orphanage he had started in Kenya, East Africa, He spoke of how so many children lived on the street, begging for money from tourists, and sometimes eating scraps of food out of garbage cans.
---- " We have over fifty children living in three small buildings we have raised enough money to build at least two more buildings but we need some help so we are praying that this summer we could get some church groups to come over on a missions trip and help us build." Mr. Debney had stated.
---- Ben walked into his apartment. At the age of twenty he was still taking college classes and working a full time job. He would love to go to Kenya and help out but there was no way he could afford such a trip. He sat down at his desk and worked on his assignment for History. When he finished it he pulled out his Bible and after reading a few chapters he prayed. He told God he was willing to go if God would help him find a way.
---- Ben continued working and studying, he ended up saving a couple hundred dollars but still not nearly enough to take the trip.
---- And then the unthinkable happened. His boss told him that he was a great worker and thanked him for all his help but told him the business wasn’t doing well and based on seniority Ben was the one who had to be let go.
---- The missions trip was only months away and now Ben didn’t even have a regular income. He went home for a weekend to visit with his family.
---- While at his parents he went to their church and one of the men who had been a good friend of the family for years told Ben that he had been thinking about and praying for him. He handed Ben an envelope that had two hundred dollars in it, It was great but still not nearly enough.
---- The deadline to sign up for the trip was getting closer. Ben still needed eight hundred dollars. He actually considered selling his car but he knew he would need it for work and school. So finally he prayed and told God if he wasn’t supposed to go that God would take the desire away, But the desire didn’t go away it just got worse and worse.
---- One day Ben was online checking his mail and he got an notice about a Christian essay contest for college students and first place would receive one thousand dollars.
---- Ben loved to write and he immediately began to outline his ideas. However nothing really came together, And that is when he realized that he was trying to get to Kenya on his own. Yes he prayed often and asked for Gods help but deep down he really relied on his job, or perhaps gifts or donations from people, maybe even selling some of his stuff. He realized he had never totally surrendered himself to work WITH God to get the money.
---- He stopped and prayed and asked God to help him to have more faith and give him the ideas and words for the essay.
---- Then he started writing for three days he wrote, re-wrote, edited, and wrote some more. Finally satisfied that it was ready he sent it off. The next few days seemed painstakingly long and doubt began to creep into Ben’s mind but finally a week after he had sent in his essay, he got a call from the man who had funded the contest.
---- Ben had won first place and not only that but the man was so impressed by Ben’s work he hired him to come and work at his Christian publishing company.
---- That summer Ben went on the missions trip and fell in love with Kenya. When he got back he finished up his college classes while working for the publishing company.
---- He got married and surrendered his life to the mission field. Over the next several years many were reached through his missionary work and countless others by the many books he wrote about his personal testimony, his precious work, and his POWERFUL God.

---- Isn’t it amazing we know that God is out there and so many times we pray and ask for his help and then try to do it all on our own. And normally it blows up in our faces. I am not saying we should pray and then do absolutely nothing but once we have prayed we need to work WITH God. He is the best partner we could ever have. He is waiting to help us but the question is . . . Will we let him ?