THE VAN STORY...continued...    

With great faith, we put $3,000 down on this vehicle. Then with only a week and half to raise the entire $19,000 budget (at cost sales price) MtM supporters came through with strength, passion and power to support this great work. 
 

All coalescing in that moment, I thought back to how More than Music got it's start. I was a single mom living in St. Paul when God began to pour this vision into me, and place it like a fire in the heart. For me, there was no choice. I didn't know how we would get it done, and some days, we are still piecing it together, but even back then I saw the faces of those who needed to hear the messages we would deliver. I saw the faces of those who needed to be tangibly served by the money we would raise, the programs we would create, the missions we would champion, and even the songs we would sing. It was meant to be. It was about so much More than Music.

There in the vehicle, all in that moment, turning in circles, taking it in, my mind flashed to later, when I was married, going to concerts and piling all the needed music gear (amps, 12 channel mixing board, rack, 15 inch speakers, stands, monitors, guitar, keyboard, etc...) into a compact car. Everything had to fit like a Tetris board.  There was A WAY to pack the vehicle. We drew a diagram so every-time we packed up we wouldn't end up with that one thing that wouldn't fit. Sometimes my son would be squished against the door, or have to sit on gear, then there was room for a driver - that was all. (Not advisable.) All other musicians would have to take a separate vehicle. I recalled a specific night when my husband and I got back from such a hauling fiasco. I was pregnant by then with our daughter, and it was 11 PM or so after another concert. I pulled up to our house and after having already moved the gear three times (to the car from the house, to the concert location the other MtM musicians and I had played at that night, from the venue back to the car, packed meticulously into it's specific Tetris pattern, which I mostly had to manage) it was time to move it all again, into the house this time. I was so tired. I stood in our driveway beside the car staring at the gear and cried. Literally.

Then we found a vehicle on E-bay in WI. For $3600 More than Music could buy a 96 Dodge Conversion Van. Rosie (named after Rosie the Riveter) was never what you would call a pretty gal, but she was a faithful, hard working machine. She was undoubtedly an answer to prayer. We would load her up and take her for miles. 84,000 to be exact. As we built the More than Music team, we outgrew her too with time. We acquired a trailer so we could maximize Rosie's dwindling space. An MtM representative called all the trailer vendors in CO until one said they would sell us a trailer at cost. When I heard someone had said YES to beng willing to sell it to our nonprofit at cost two past donors sprang to mind. I called them. They each said yes too and matched money to buy the trailer outright.

All this swept over me as my eyes swept the sheer quality and functionality of this vehicle we purchased through our donors' faith and generosity. I saw the vision of what is yet to be playing out before us. Again, I saw the faces of those that would be healed, moved, changed. People who need and whose need will be met through this work. This journey has been precious. A walk of faith from start to finish. And we have only just begun.

One time Jesus was tested on the Sabbath. Religious leaders of his day had created rules all around faith. One of these rules was about what you could and could not do on a day that was supposed to be set aside for worship. These self righteous, religious hypocrites, who have trappings of "godliness," but deny it's power, brought Jesus a man with a shriveled hand to see if even on this day of worship Jesus would "work" to heal him. Jesus is a healer. At His core. And he does not concern Himself much with man-made restrictions, and definitely not with what others think. He took one look and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." The man could have said, "No, I can't!" or "Why would you ask me to do that, it hurts whenever I've tried in the past!?" He could have said, "Heal me first and I will." or he could have questioned, "How could I do that with a shriveled hand?" Or, even "It is the Sabbath. Is healing allowed on this day?" second guessing, and concerning himself with trivial details; missing the POWER of the moment before him. He could have done many things, but you know what the man did? He stretched out his hand. And with each molecule's movement - each extension of sinew and muscle and fiber and blood - his hand extended and healed before him, in tandem with his act of faith. The miracle came with the movement.

More than Music will keep stretching and we will do our best to listen and obey with faith when Jesus gives us an instruction. We were so small, and now, look! We are a team! A vision so much bigger and more defined than I knew it would be there in my apartment in St. Paul. I didn't exactly know how...and sometimes we still don't know all the hows...but this hand is moving, and extending before us.

Praise God!

...And in your own life too. Go ahead. Believe.

"Now to the one who can do infinitely more than all we can ask or imagine according to the power that is working among us-" Eph 3:20       

You can find out more about our ministry at:

www.MorethanMusicInc.com/mission/   

To support this work too you can go to: