Paying for School

My ongoing adventures in life and the pursuit of more...

Monday, December 12, 2011

Panhandling

A few decades ago I was raising money to go on a mission.  I sent "support letters" out to everyone I knew.  I'd been told that for every 10 requests I would get one response.  I needed a lot of responses to reach my goal and go on the mission.  The letters hadn't been out very long when I received my first reply.  There was no money in the self-addressed, stamped, reply envelope, just a note.  It was a family member (not immediate - in case you're trying to figure this out) letting me know that I was a tremendous disappointment to the family.

So when I had this idea come to me in the shower to try to get by with some help from my friends, I wasn't excited or comfortable.  I definitely wasn't expecting something like this to happen!  Thanks to friends, new and old, I'm well on my way to reaching my goal of getting educated.

There's a new widget here on the site, the ol' thermometer, to keep track of how this is going.

Here are the quick details again:  I'm working on a Master of Ministry degree from SSU.  I'm doing this by distance and on-site (2 weeks each semester).  I've already done one module/semester and I'm on the hook for that one financially.  There are 3 more modules/semesters to complete, including the next one in March that is the Travel Module that will take me to Egypt, Israel and Lebanon ($4200 due by the end of this month - yikes!).  Then next Fall and Spring and then I have the Thesis - an additional cost and I'm paying my way for that as well.  So the appeal has been to my friends and family for help with the $10,000 in the middle for the travel and next two modules.  And I've experienced an incredible amount of love and generosity that's left me feeling like George Bailey - post visit by Clarence - which is a good place to be at this time of year!

I'm humbled, honoured and blessed by this experienced and rather than crawling under a rock - which is how I thought I'd be feeling - I want to tell everyone how rich I feel because of my friends, my family and my school!


1 comment:

  1. The widget is a great idea. Praying for you Brian, this is a difficult time of the year to be raising money! So far so good...

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