August 11, 2023 • 45 mins
An amazing adventure of how God provides for a family of 9 making $24k year. From clothes to cars to homes, this story is sure to inspire and encourage you on your journey.
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Episode Transcript
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Dan Schilling (00:07):
Hey, welcome to the FeedSheep podcast where we
help you hear God's voice followhis lead and thrive as a
disciple. I'm Dan Schilling.
I'll be one of your guides. Nowlet's get into today's topic.
All right. Hey, welcome toFeedSheep podcast. We're back
for part two. Michael, good tobe back together again here
we're gonna keep on are going onour journey here of the
Schilling family, I don't knowif this was a good idea or not.
(00:28):
Because sometimes I feel weirdtalking about all the details of
our life. But I guess this iswhat we got to do sometimes,
hey, this
Michael Blue (00:38):
is where we're going. Yeah, so you can't we
kind of ended last time, you hadwalked us through about up till
about age 30. We're, you know,your 2000 or so I don't want to
give away your age. And I mighthave just done so but that's
alright. We kind of we kind ofsaw God's faithfulness in your
first, you know, places to livejobs to have people to engage
(01:03):
with, you know, confirming withyou and with your wife, Sherry.
Along the way, as you kind ofbegin this family begin
listening to God. And so we weended with you giving a little
bit of a teaser of, of God'ssaying, I'm going to ask you to
trust me for $50 a month. ButI'm going to keep adding zeros
to this as you grow in faith. SoI think that's about where we
(01:25):
are in your journey. You'reworking at a school that you're
about to I think make a changein what you're doing. Yes,
Administrator do something else.
And I think that's what thesenext pictures are. So I'll turn
it over to you. At that recappoint.
Dan Schilling (01:40):
Well, and Michael, this is again, as we
grow on our journey, hear God'svoice while I was at the school.
One day on my drive home, I cantell you where I could drive to
that point today, if you werehere, and we're I'm in Florida
now. But if I was in Ohio, andcould drive that I can tell you,
right, we're on the road where Iwas when I fell, I heard God
speak to me, you're not going tobe here much longer. Now, I
(02:04):
think more this is one of thedangers of hearing God's voice
is that we sometimes hear it andthen we try to interpret what
that means exactly. You know, Ican take it and say, Oh, I'm
gonna die tonight, I'm not goingto be here on the earth much
longer. The rapture is going tohappen, we're all going to be
gone. I mean, so we have to bevery careful when we're hearing
(02:25):
God's voice. I think that's whywe need to do this journey and
community that we have peoplearound us that that are also
growing in their journey tohear, follow and thrive and can
we can bounce things off of Imean, it's part of sharing. As
we were talking here just alittle bit ago, before we
started today, I'm bouncingthings off, are you asking? Does
(02:46):
it sound like I'm hearing fromGod is my off track and having
people around you that are onthis journey is part of our our
goal for the whole aspect of theministry and putting these
points or groups together wherepeople boy made a term means
those who follow Jesus as theirguide and keeper. And so as
sheep who follow the GoodShepherd, that trust him that
(03:08):
he's leading us towards greenpastures, even if it doesn't
seem like it, even if it doesn'tfeel good, even if it's not
comfortable, but that we trusthim. And that on that journey
together. We can encourage eachother, as the scripture says was
still cold today. So that's thehearts become hardened. And he'd
restricted me. We'd stoppedfollowing we started trusting
ourselves and trusting thewealth we have or trusting the
(03:30):
things around us, instead offollowing him.
Michael Blue (03:33):
So we know he didn't call you home and the
rapture didn't happen. Yeah, sowhat does God mean when he said,
Yeah, you're not gonna be heremuch longer.
Dan Schilling (03:43):
So our season the school was wrapping up, we've we
felt called to family. And so wesaw families at the school
Christian school that weregetting divorced. And one of the
key aspects as we were lookingat marriage and family ministry,
the number number one reason fordivorce was money issues. And so
(04:07):
we moved back to the back bottomleft picture here is the picture
of the home we lived in. Thiswas my grandparents home growing
up the home is over 100 yearsold now. I've been in our family
for 80 years. I'll tell moreabout that in just a minute. But
(04:27):
this is where God called us andfor the next you know, we
thought we were going to developthis ministry and and then the
church asked us to come on staffand long story short guide
closed the doors there and wehad exhausted our savings that
we thought we're going to usethe launch this ministry while
the church was making theirdecision and so for the next
(04:48):
year and a half, that pictureabove again there at the farm. I
spent the next year and a halfpower washing manure at my dad,
his the farm that you aspartners with my brother at the
time, and it was a low point,because, you know, moving back
to my hometown, and people say,Hey, what are you doing now?
(05:09):
It's like, you know, powerwashmaneuver for my dad, you know,
I'm working at the farm like,wow, really? I never pictured
you like, yeah. And so if I hadto describe that time, I would
call lessons in humility. Theschool prospered while we were
there doubled in size and grew.
And I, you know, sometimesMichael, in those seasons of
life, you can think you'rebetter or think you're
something. And so I believe whyGod wanted me to go through the
(05:33):
season of power washing manurewas because I felt like he said
to me, I need to wash the youout of you, that if I really
want to use you to really haveyou be a part of doing the
things for me and my kingdom, itcan't be about you. Because
pride, essentially, I have tooppose you. And so, I'm not
saying that eliminate all pridefrom my life, you can ask
(05:55):
anybody around me and my family.
That's not I didn't happen, butit has planted the seeds of the
need to continue to walk andgrow and humility. And without
it, it would crush me. So Iimagine
Michael Blue (06:11):
on your resume, it was a little bit more polish
than a newer washer. Yeah. Well,it's hard.
Dan Schilling (06:24):
Yeah, it's hard to feel like you're awesome when
you're covered from head to toeand hog manure. So yeah, and hog
manure is, if anybody of youdon't know, once you get it on
your body and your skin, itdoesn't wash off, like the
smell, and the amount actuallysinks into your skin to your
hair. And so it was a roughseason. But it was in that
season, that again, I come backand say okay, I'll go anywhere,
(06:46):
I'll do anything. And that'swhere that those pictures right
above that are. When I came onstaff, then with Crown financial
ministries, I came to my wife asa before we actually came on
staff, I said, Hey, I see thisjob description we are going to
get we're going to use crownsmaterials, as part of the
ministry, we're developingfamily to family. And so I went
(07:10):
to go get some little learningATM bank for our son, Caleb, who
was turning five, because I knewit's good to start teaching the
kids when they're five. And yourdad wrote a book on, you know,
training kids when they wereyoung with their finances. So
I've been around that world andknew we needed to do that.
Right. And so I found thatthey're looking for field staff.
And when we looked at the jobdescription, my wife said, What
(07:31):
do you think this means here, itsays, you know, responsible to
secure the funding for the areaministry, I said, I'm pretty
sure that private means raiseyour own support. And so we went
to the one of the pictures hereis we went to this funding
training, and they told us, youknow, don't, here's all the
things you don't want to do. Youknow, don't try to be like
George Mueller. Don't try to,you know, you got to ask you got
(07:53):
to run appointments, you got todo these things. So I came back,
Michael, from going to thattraining. And I'm, you know,
running the run into play,during the funding appointments,
the meetings, but I was had aproblem inside and what the
Scripture says about being adouble minded man, you're
unstable in all your ways. Andthe double minus I had is when I
was in a meeting with you, Iwould be thinking, hey, I want
(08:17):
to help Mike, I want to help himgrow closer to Christ. I want to
help him understand God's wordas it deals with money. But I
also am thinking in the back ofmy mind, when should I ask him
for money? First call, secondmeeting third goal, you know,
whatever it is, and I'm like,God, what do I do and this is
where I believe he spoke to myheart. The Matthew six, you
(08:41):
know, pastors when talks aboutmoney there and that if you seek
first the king, Seek first thekingdom, then if you take care
of my business, I'll take careof yours. And that was a turning
point for us to say, Okay, guys,we're just gonna, we're gonna
trust you.
Michael Blue (09:01):
Yeah, and that's you mentioned, George Mueller.
And they told you not to beGeorge Mueller. And it sounds
like you may be feeling Godcalling me to be like George
Mueller. And for those of youwho are unfamiliar with George
Miller, he was a man who startedorphanages in in England. It
(09:21):
really response to just a needy,he had moved to England as a
pastor and saw these people whoneeded help, and so he began to
help them but one of the tenantsof his orphanage was he was
never to come to any personother than God, and asking for
help to fund the ministry. Andso he did ministry like that for
(09:43):
50 years. And so I got providedin such a way that you know,
10,000 plus orphans went throughtheir orphanages relying solely
on God and prayer to provide anyprovided above and beyond what
they needed. So that's that'swhat you mean by George Miller
said, You're you're going Fromhey, let's Let's go ask people
for money to Let's Ask God toprovide. Is that right?
Dan Schilling (10:07):
That's what he said it because the problem my
hope, again was the doublemindedness was the issue. The
issue was I wasn't able to sayfocus on the kingdom because I
had two kingdoms, you know, mykingdom? How am I going to
provide for myself so that I cando this thing for God. And I've
always said, there's only onething to focus on. You take care
(10:28):
of my business, and I'll takecare of yours. If you trust me.
You go, and don't worry aboutasking. You don't have to ask.
I'll provide. And so I went tomy wife who'd been through this
training as well. I didn't wantto tell her because I'm like,
no, no, I, we do want thetraining. She's already heard
this, don't do that. And I'mwrestling with the Lord and
like, she's not going to go forit. And it's not about her. It
(10:49):
was about me, really, I didn'twant to say, Honey, you I think
we should do this. But the day Itold her, we're standing out by
our garden, and I said, Istarted to weep. And she's like,
what's wrong? I said, I justfeel like God's telling me not
to ask, just to trust him. Andshe said to me, she said, then,
you know, which was notnecessary out of character for
(11:09):
her. But it was a interestingway. She said, Let's go for it.
Like, really? If this is God,we're gonna see him do amazing
things. If not, you give up onthe whole goofy deal and go get
a real job. This is this is awin win. I'm like, I get you're
right, I guess it is. And soMichael, here we are 19 years
later. And we've watched God dothat for us. And, you know, it's
(11:35):
not that I many times didn'twaver from it. I thought it was
just a short term test. Ithought it was just something
we're gonna do for, you know,maybe a couple of months, and
then get back into the plan.
Right. But
Michael Blue (11:47):
so you're we aren't, you've now been
powerwashing maneuver for 25years to fund your ministry.
Dan Schilling (11:56):
Yeah, so we would stay quit.
Michael Blue (11:58):
You quit Washington manure? Yep.
Dan Schilling (12:01):
Yeah. That was my last job before we started in
ministry. It have not beenanywhere else since. So
Michael Blue (12:09):
they're too similar jobs.
Dan Schilling (12:11):
Yeah. Dirty Jobs.
That show right.
Michael Blue (12:15):
powerwash manure that's that's kind of the
description. So for 19 years,you've you've had a job
effectively, that didn't have astable salary. Correct. You're
you're provided asking God toprovide. Alright, yeah. So tell
us how that started. Or whatelse?
Dan Schilling (12:34):
This is really where the $50 a month comes in.
And that season, I felt God saidit, you know, we were just just
we didn't know how it's gonnawork. Because when I left the
farm, I was working part time.
And it was like, this all kindof converge at the same time.
You know, I'd already said I wasdone, and then we're not going
to ask for support. And so now Iwas like, Oh, my gosh, what are
we gonna do? And within a coupleof weeks of when I was talking
(12:57):
with Sherry, I had a guy whocalled me said, Hey, I was
praying this morning, and HolySpirit just put you on my heart.
And I said, okay, and he said,he said that God just told me,
I'm supposed to support you. Andhe said, I don't like to do that
monthly stuff. So I'm just gonnasend you a check for $10,000.
And I'm, like, dumbfounded. AndI walk in the house and I'm in,
(13:17):
I'm in tears. Again, I haven'tbeen typically a weepy person.
So Sherry had heard the phonering. I come in, she's like, Oh,
no, who's dead? Nobody's dead. Itold her about the store. And it
was just a point of celebration.
Again, we were hearing God'svoice. We're following him
trusting him. No, it wasn'tscary. Absolutely. But he was
(13:42):
showing us at that time, like, Ineeded just 50 bucks a month
sometimes just to figure out howwe're gonna make all the bills
work. And it doesn't sound likemuch, but at the time, you know,
we didn't have a lot ofexpenses, but it was just like,
he said, You're gonna learn totrust me for the 50, but I'm
gonna keep adding zeros. And Ifelt like he showed me Michael,
(14:03):
in that time. He said, I'll tellyou when your last day is doing
the ministry. I'm thinking,Okay, well, what's the date,
I'll write it down. And I feltlike what he showed me is, the
last day of ministry for youwill be when you're checking
accounts of zero. When youremergency funds is zero, and
your ministry fund is zero,that's your last day and then
(14:25):
you can go look for somethingelse. But in the meantime, keep
your hands to the plow. Don'tlook back and we can look at
that scripture and see, youknow, that that we become unfit
if we're we don't we keeplooking back trying to figure
out how to take care of thesethings around us and for us, and
I'm not I'm not portraying thison anybody else. For their
(14:46):
journey of just this is what Godwas speaking to us. This is what
I'm calling you to. And it'sbeen hard I'm not gonna lie. I
mean, I have said over theyears, I've quit several 1000
times. And I would tell God, youknow, all Are these times these
years of like, I'm gonna quit,I'm just gonna go get a real
job. Right? And I feel like hewould check me on that and say,
(15:07):
what is his real job you keepreferring to? Like being apart
from being the center of my willfor your life? What does this
real job look like? And reallywhat, what I was trying to say,
Lord is where I'm in control.
Where I'm calling the shots arewhere I got my hands on the
wheel, I don't have to trust youand follow you. I can use the
gifts and talents you gave me,but I can use them to provide a
(15:29):
living that provides what Ithink I need. Because I don't
trust you to provide what Ineed.
Michael Blue (15:38):
Even that, I mean, and you know this, but you know,
even that's a false security ofcertainty. I mean, there's jobs
aren't certain incomes, notcertain, you know, there's
layoffs, there's dips inmarkets, there's all these
things. And so we always I thinkit's easy to look at something
we're not doing and say, Well,that would be more stable, that
would be more secure thinking.
Something different, I want todraw a story out that I know in
(16:02):
your life that's that's reallyencouraged me in my own life,
when we first met, you told thestories, you're telling kind of
some of your journey. So ifyou're not at this point, I
apologize. But no, go for it.
There's a there's a story.
around Christmas time, I thinkwhen you really were struggling
with this idea of trusting Godto provide. So I don't know if
you're willing to share thatstory.
Dan Schilling (16:24):
But you tell what you remember about and all that
it Oh.
Michael Blue (16:30):
Well, all right, fine. It's probably better
coming from the part I rememberis you you got to point around
Christmas time where yourministry account. Money was was
was pretty dry. There wasn'tmuch there. And I don't know,
maybe you had five kids at thistime four or five kids. And you
realize you're gonna have to goto your wife and say, We don't
(16:52):
have enough to buy Christmaspresents for our kids. Right?
Yeah. And so you and so you, Ithink you went to her and she
didn't she received about aswell as you could expect it to
be received. Yeah. Are youkidding me like this, this is
this is more than what we signedup for. So when I remember you
(17:12):
telling stories, so you decided,that's it. I know how to do
this. I know how to fix thisproblem. I'm gonna go write
support letters. So you went toyour office and started writing
support letters. Yeah. As youfinish the story. And so as
you're doing so, you felt likeGod was pressing on your heart,
an important lesson. And so whatwas it there that
Dan Schilling (17:32):
he was telling you? Well, if you can't see me
right now, if you're listening,I'm trying to not totally break
down. That's right. You'remaking me tell the story. Yeah,
exactly. Well, it was it wastough on ankle ly. I mean, it
was we didn't have to tell mywife, you know, she's willing to
be on this journey. But to sayto her, we're not gonna buy our
(17:53):
kids Christmas presents. Michaelwas like that. Look at her. I
was like, Why did I marry thisschmuck? You know? And it was
probably it was tough. And Ipretty much, you know, saying,
Lord, I'm not, I can't deal withthat. I can't, you know, have
her. She's done a lot. I don'twant to and it really was
selfish, self centered, too. SoI don't wanna make it sound like
(18:14):
we're just about her, you know,her being upset. But I'm like,
I'm gonna do it. I deserve theright I've earned the right to
go ask people for money. Right?
So I write the letters, I'mgetting ready to send them out.
It's like December the 17th. Wedidn't have money. You know,
it's like, I gotta get thishappening. And it's time I was
leading compass, North Americanteam, and I feel kind of
(18:38):
conflicted because I'm tellingthem to go do their end of the
year fundraising, but I don't doyou know, I'm not doing it. And
so I'm like, I'm doing I got theletters ready to send them out.
And that morning as I wasspending time the Lord I felt
like he said to me as a lovingfather in a strong yet caring
but disciplined way say to me,son, I love you. But if you send
out those letters, you're gonnahave to try to figure it out
(19:01):
from now on out. Are you gonnatrust me? Is a my way or your
way? And it was like, ah, gosh,you know, through letters in a
trash. So, okay, if we're gonnago down, I'll go down obeying.
And Michael, what ended uphappening was that ended up
being the largest month ofgiving we've ever had in the
(19:22):
ministry up to that point intime. No letters, no phone
calls. No, nothing other thanGod's sovereign handle
provision.
Michael Blue (19:31):
Couple of minutes and prayer, perhaps.
Dan Schilling (19:35):
My knees were worn out, but it really again
was a key turning point for us.
You know, yeah. And again, I itsvulnerability. I it was, it was
harder than you can imagine. Youknow, just to be like, oh, you
know, God provides we can buyChristmas presents. We were able
to do those things. But it wasnot just about Christmas
presents is about what he wasdoing in us and so what he was
(19:57):
showing us throughout to seeisn't as easy. I didn't call
you, Dan to teach people theseprinciples, I called you to live
them, and then testify out ofyour obedience to them. I said,
Minister, this job would be mucheasier if I could just say, Hey,
Michael, when you get nosituation, you need to trust
God. He's gonna provide, no, Idon't have to go through that.
But you should have to gothrough it. And I think that's
(20:18):
part of what we're talking aboutas our journey to hear, follow
and thrive as disciples. Andthat part of why I gotta believe
it's called you and I to thisprocess is a willingness to be
on that journey ourself, notperfect.
Michael Blue (20:34):
Absolutely not want it but one of the most
convicting quotes I think, I'veheard before is a pastor in
Waco, Texas. He made thiscomment in telling his story, he
said, we all want to experiencea miracle, like anything about
if I could see this miracle. Andmaybe it's we all want to
(20:56):
witness a miracle. But I thinkwe all want to experience
miracle. Yes, but none of uswant to be in a position to need
one. Yes, right. So the idea ofneeding a miracle. So if I
witnessed America and watchinghim, do it to someone else,
that's pretty neat. But if Iactually experience a miracle in
my life, it means I'm in aposition of needing supernatural
help, in order to get me out ofa situation that I miss. Yes.
(21:19):
And, and but it is, but what Ithink we know is that in those
situations, when you see Godcome through, when you see it,
it does strengthen your faith.
It doesn't make it easy,necessarily. The next time it
might make it a little biteasier, but it certainly
strengthens your faith andtrusting God for those things.
And you grow through this. Butlike I said, You didn't want to
(21:42):
be in that situation.
Dan Schilling (21:45):
Oh, no, right. I mean, like I said, that's why I
say quit several 1000 times likeI want to do, let me just have a
normal life. Let me just gothis. And I gotta believe
Michael, honestly, I really do.
It'd be great. When we're inheaven. We can ask some of the
characters who we admire in theScriptures, the Abraham's Paul's
there with a man was it hardlike, oh, man, it was all about,
oh, you know, like, they werebasil like, Man, I don't want to
(22:08):
do this anymore. I want out. And
Michael Blue (22:15):
yeah, I just preached on Abraham this last
Sunday. And one thing thatstruck me is when he was 99
years old, he'd received thepromises of God, like five times
at this point. Yes. Right. Andhe's like, next year, you're
gonna get Isaiah. And duringthat year between when he was
born in that promise, he wentand gave his wife away again to
another man. Yeah. And so yeah,I got to think that he's like,
(22:39):
Yeah, I don't know. Great,graciously. I was called a man
of faith and righteousness. Butit certainly was God's hand
along the way.
Dan Schilling (22:50):
Well, I think what it's so good to say that
you're here. And we've, it's,it's not perfect. We're not
we're not, you know, we're not,we're human. And so the midst of
our flesh, and our humaneness isstill a part of all of our
stories. And so, wherever you'reat today, if you're listening, I
just want to urge you today thatdoesn't matter where you're at
(23:11):
on the journey, it doesn'tmatter what you'd had behind
you, doesn't matter. Maybe yousaid, Well, I didn't have
parents that knew Jesus, Ididn't have a you know, I didn't
get rededicated my life. When Iwas 20. I got I got a mountain
load of garbage. I got all kindsof stuff. And God surely can't
do these things to me. And Ijust want to tell you, that's a
lie, that God wants to begin agood work in you He who began a
(23:34):
good work and he was faithful tocomplete it. And God is in a
journey. And each of us He isfaithful to complete this
process of what we talked aboutsanctification, right? He's,
he's helping us grow in ourjourney to hear follow and
thrive. Yeah. Well, I want to, Iwant to pick up the pace here a
little bit just to kind of getthese next couple in. So the the
(23:56):
couple pictures here Next,you'll see a couple of vans,
even in that family picture,there's a green van. So we we
had five children at the time.
We get pregnant with number six,which means now we need an eight
passenger vehicle and thatlittle Honda minivan delay was
seven. My wife wasn't a fan ofdouble buckling. So we were
trusting God to show us what todo. At this at the same time we
(24:20):
were God was helping us pay offall of our debt. That was part
of our our journey. Earlier onthe $500 actually was to put 500
Extra down on our debt, and wewatched God from 2006 to 2011
pay off $45,000 of debt we weremaking $2,000 a month at the
(24:40):
time, had five children. And soagain, we were watching God's
provision. He was supplyingother ways. I tell folks over
the years there was no marijuanagrowing on the farm. There was
no other funny business or cashcrop or my wife was at work. I
mean, it was all God was showingus different way. Here's how he
can provide and he was. So the$5,000 decision was this van, we
(25:03):
felt like God began to ask us.
And I was telling people thestatement when I would teach
about God's ownership, I said,it's easy to say that God owns
it all until he asked you forthe keys. And so I felt like I
said, Okay, you tell people thatnow, I want you to give away
that green van. I'm like, wait,we need that we're about to get
(25:25):
out of debt. And if I sell thatvan, we're gonna be completely
out of debt. Got it providedthis other van, you see this
gray minivan, that was an eightpassenger minivan God provides
for us for like, $2,000. Solike, this is great, we're gonna
end up paying off the debtearly. And so for nine months,
Michael, even though I knew Godwas leading us to, to give the
(25:46):
van away, I was trying to sellit. Because I didn't want to. So
I admit, again, I'm a chronic,you know, problematic child when
it comes to God, like, but hewas patient with me kind in the
midst of my disobedience. Butlong story short, God had us
give that to a young lady. Andhe used that in a story then to
help me start to understand whatreal giving is like, and sort of
(26:08):
the FedEx store uses that. Whenshe came and said to me, he's
like, why would you do this forme? No one's ever been so nice.
At first, I want to stop you. Sothis actually is not a gift from
me. It's a gift from yourheavenly Father. Because I
didn't want to give it to you.
The reality is, I wanted to keepit for myself. And that's the
truth. But this was a gift fromyour heavenly Father. So if the
(26:29):
FedEx guy comes and drops off apackage at your house, you don't
invite him over for dinner. Youknow, he's just doing his job.
And so I told her, I said, I'mjust the FedEx guy, I'm just the
delivery person, God wanted youto have this van. Because he
wants you to know that he lovesyou carefree. He's gonna take
care of you. She was goingthrough a divorce her husband
and left she's a single mom. Andgot used that as a tool, which
(26:51):
is interesting. Michael, we justheard from her in this last
year, she sent us a messagefound us on Facebook and said,
Hey, I just wanted to let youknow that back I had never
forgot about what you did. Andnow I'm in a position now or I
was able to give a van away tosomebody else when they were in
need. And so it's like, praiseGod. I said, you know, it wasn't
(27:11):
us again, it was what God asksus to do. This isn't a story
about our kindness orgenerosity. It's about God's
goodness, his kindness, hisgenerosity, that he wants to
flow through us. And so it'sbeen just a part of that process
of, of seeking and trusting and
Michael Blue (27:30):
that's good. Yeah, I'm struck too is I think about
the story of trusting is you'renot the you shouldn't be a
receiver Dan. Right, tell memore man, I think we put in we
put people in categories ofwell, I'm, I give or I receive,
and like, you know, I'm asender, I'm a goer, we have
these categories that we thinkare, you know, almost siloed.
(27:53):
But I think Scripture teaches usthat we best work in community,
when when we are all in thecycle of giving and receiving.
Right? I'm a giver, and Ireceive I have to trust I have
to depend on the community. AndI have to give and I get to
give. Right? And I do think thatone thing that I think we'll see
in people's stories is evenpeople who don't have a high
(28:13):
paying job. God givesopportunities to participate in
giving that was a story of theMacedonian church. So Lily,
which is the church, right? Yep.
Widow gives the mind. So part ofit. Yeah. And so got invited,
still invited you even thoughyou were relying on other people
to provide opportunities to giveand that that's not just a van.
I know. And I don't know ifwe're gonna get to that part of
(28:35):
the story or not. But you'vedone more in that way that would
would surprise people andgiving?
Dan Schilling (28:42):
Yeah, well, and it was just a part of the
process. Right? He was, again, Ican't just teach it. I can't
teach people about God'sownership. I can't teach them
about trusting. I can't teachthem about a willingness to
give, even when it doesn't makesense, right? Because it didn't
make sense. The numbers didn'tmake sense, you know, so. So
what that did, though, was afoundation for us for that next
(29:06):
season. We came on anotherpicture there. We were on staff
with Compass with Howard Dayton,who was the founder of Crown
financial ministries, co founderwith linear Bruket. And they
Howard transitioned from crownand we felt God was calling us
to be on the team with him asthey were launching compass. And
(29:29):
so we're pictured down therewith our original guys that were
a part of that journey. And sothis was a great season of life
again, Michael to serve withHoward and learn from him. A man
of humility, great character.
And just grateful for thatseason of ministry. The next
picture there beside that yousee, is my couple of my boys
(29:51):
sitting on some concrete blocksand a foundation there. We began
to feel like God was staring inour hearts. We had a guy come to
us and ask us, Hey, have youever thought about building
addition to your house? We hadbeen thinking about it. But we
had committed we were nevergoing to borrow money again. We
said again, if it's God'svision, he'll supply the
(30:12):
provision. And so we just kindof put a stake in the ground
after that debt was paid off,and 2011 that we were never
going to borrow. And he keptasking me for like, for a couple
of years that, well, if youdecide you're going to do an
addition, he said, I'd like to,I'd like to help. And I said,
Okay, great. He said, Yeah. Hesaid, what do you what do you
think? And I said, well, we'dlike to put something. So what
do you what? If you do it, I'llpay I'll pay. I'll give $5,000
(30:35):
toward it. I'll pay towards agreat, thank you. So it's like a
year later comes back says,Well, I've never had somebody
where I gave an offer like thatthey didn't take me up on or do
something. I said, Well, we'renot going to borrow and he said,
Well, he said, You can borrow?
It's okay. And so I know thatI'm not saying it's against the
law, God's not gonna punish you,if you borrow I just it was this
(30:57):
was our personal conviction. Andso he said, Well, what have you
found anything else? And yeah,the concrete works about 10,000
hours? Well, I'll tell you what,I'll pay for the concrete. All
right. So again, we don't doanything. You know, it's another
year later, he says, What what'sgoing on? Why wouldn't you? You
know, I've offered to do that.
So we don't have the money toget it under roof. Because I
just can't see how you're evergoing to have it if you don't,
(31:20):
if you don't borrow the money,as well. We're not going to
we're going to trust that we'veseen him provide. And so he
said, where are you at now. AndI said, Well, after we had a
hailstorm and had damage, I saidafter this whole thing and
settled up, we'll probably haveclose to 20,000. So he called me
back the next day and said, Hey,we, my wife, and I were praying,
and we're gonna, we're gonnamatch your 20 and provide labor.
(31:42):
And so I'm not a greatmathematician, but I could
figure out enough that we canprobably get enough to get it
under roof. And so this reallybecame our the $50,000 decision,
it ended up it ended up a 1200square foot addition. So if you
factor that in just at thetypical $100 per square foot, we
were providing labor, he wasproviding some, but there's
(32:05):
still a lot of expense. AndMichael about halfway, as we got
just started, I said, Hey, weneed to stop. Because I'm about
out of money. And, and he toldme said then he said, God told
me that I'm supposed to help youget this addition. He said, So
you focus on doing what God'scalled you to do. And I'll focus
on what God's called me to do.
(32:26):
He said, we're going to, we'regoing to take care of this. And
so he helped me finish thisedition, which is that next
picture there, when you see us,just down to the second to a
left picture, they're sitting infront of the kitchen and living
room. And it was an amazingjourney. I mean, it was hard to
trust him, because there were,you know, things that God
(32:46):
provided that we would havenever imagined that he would
provide, as he did. And so Ithink part of the story.
Michael Blue (32:55):
Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's good. So I think
there's one one more, there'smore than one more. But we
probably don't have time for allof them. Unless we're gonna
Dan Schilling (33:06):
wrap up with just two more as we wrap up the you
know, we were at a point wherewe have our sixth child, and we
feel like God begins to ask usAre we willing to trust him in
this area is looking again atMatthew six. And when he talks
about, you know, soap foryourselves treasures in heaven,
I felt like he's asked me tostuff I wanted to entrust you
(33:26):
with something that's eternal,would you be willing to receive
now, as you could look downthere, and one that pictures
where there's six of us, andthere's one point we had six
that were 12 and under. And soit was a hectic time of life,
you know, the thought of havinganother child was not a high on
our list, to say the least. Butwe felt like God was asking us
(33:48):
just to wait, don't do anythingpermanent to. And just to trust
him. It was it was actually I'llbe transparent. This was hard
for my wife and I, because shewas like, why won't you do
something? You know, like, I'mlike, I just feel like God is
telling me not to. It's like,yeah, right, you know, like, and
so there were times it wastough. But it came a point in
(34:08):
time, we're gonna begin toreally ask me that, would you be
willing to trust me? And so wehave seven years, five years
between number six and numberseven, Jessie and Noah. But it
was a it's a interesting,Michael, when it's a concept.
When a baby is a concept whenthere's not a name and a person
(34:30):
things. It's easy to think no,but when there's a person a
name, and now he's no. And so Ijust want to say this, that
sometimes there's parts of ourjourney that we have, we're kind
of locked in like, I don't wantthat gift. I don't want that
blessing. You know, God, becausewe don't know what that might
look like. doesn't have a nameor a face to it. Right? Right.
(34:53):
So you have that.
Michael Blue (34:56):
What's that? Once you do, you can't imagine life
without him.
Dan Schilling (34:59):
Never Never, and so no has been, he's probably
the biggest daddy's boy of allof them. And so he's been a
great gift to me. But I know tous as a family, as well. And so
the next kind of turn in thejourney is we began to feel like
God was asking us to, we hadstarted to come to Florida to
serve with our team here. Halfthe year, felt like God was
(35:23):
asking us to, to sell our home,again, 100 year old home 80
years in the family. And again,there's so many things in life
we started grabbing hold of andholding on tightly to, and yet
God stopped wanting us to holdso tightly to things here. And
so this is really where the$500,000 the next zero comes in.
And it was long story short, wefelt like God asked us to, we
(35:49):
had taken a couple through aBible study with us years ago,
with crown and then discipling,caring for them. And we were to
ask them if they wanted to buythe home. They said they were
interested but wonder how muchand we were praying and praying
about like what we should sellto them for got the house
appraised and appraised at 265.
And, and when we were talking tohim on the phone, the one of the
(36:12):
guys said to me said well howthe markets up right now, it'll
probably sell for you could sellfor over 300. But I knew we
couldn't sell it to him for 300.
Because that would put them in aposition of being upside down.
So we're conflicted trying todecide what, at the same time,
there was a couple who lived acouple houses down from the
rental where we lived inFlorida. And they wanted us to
(36:33):
purchase their home. And but wedidn't have the cash, you know,
in the sale of our house wasn'tgonna be enough. We had some
folks here in Florida who said,Hey, we want to help you make up
the difference. So that you cancome here in the hole and not
have to borrow money. And so Iwas like, Well, God's providing
and and then we're asking thiscouple about their interest in
(36:56):
this and yes, what do you wantto sell it for? And I felt as we
were praying one day, I felt theLord put this question on my
heart to ask him if you had topay cash for the home, how much
could you pay? And so when wetalked to him, he said, Well, he
said, If you want to know howmuch we've got saved, we've
saved 100,000. We don't have anydebt, paid for our cars,
everything else, we've got100,000. And in my mind, I'm
thinking, Oh, well, you're abouta third of the way there
(37:16):
brother. And he said, So what doyou think I said, Well, we're
gonna we'll pray about it andjust figure out what that is.
And so that week, as we werepraying, we felt God asked us,
would you be willing to sellthem the house for the 100 that
they have saved? Now, am I gonnabite you? Or are they gonna be I
was listening. But there's timeswhen there's these moments in
life, sometimes when I hear theword say these things that kind
of take a couple steps back.
Like, whew. And this wasprobably the biggest one. And we
(37:39):
are in a position where, youknow, we haven't we didn't have
retirement, we didn't havecollege savings. I had a guy
asked me said, Do you have aretirement, right? You don't
make college savings, you don'thave anything, you have one
asset, it's worth 300, andyou're gonna sell it for 100. He
said, That'd be absolutelystupid. Unless the spirit God's
calling you to do it. If it is,it's gonna be a heck of a story.
(38:01):
And I said, Sure, hope so. Andso long story short, we did. As
an act of obedience is an act ofdesire to because again, it's
easy. And I felt like that'sit's easy to say we trust him
until we put in a place where wehave to trust him. It's easy to
say that God owns at all till heasked us for the keys. And he
was asking us for the keys hegave us it was a gift. He gave
(38:22):
it to us. And are we willing topass that on? And so long story
short, we thought that the housein Florida was not going to
happen if we did that. But Godthen provided through some very
kind folks. Little north of$400,000 than to provide and
(38:43):
were able to get the house. Sothe bottom right hand. Picture
there is the home now that God'sprovided for us. These this
couple that it asked us aboutpurchasing their home that's
provided that for us as the nextpart of our, our journey.
Michael Blue (39:06):
And how much is your mortgage?
Dan Schilling (39:09):
Nothing zero.
Michael Blue (39:13):
Yeah, it's, it's, it's good. I mean, I think that
it's probably not going to makeits way into many financial
planning textbooks as a way topurchase a home or but it's a
you know, it's not a traditionalstory, either of selling a home
or buying a home. And you know,what I think what I like about
(39:39):
the story is how he's grown yourtrust in different ways. You
know, it started with the oldcar and then it was a addition
and then it's this and justknowing that God pushes the
boundaries of our faith back astep as we learn to trust him.
And I know that your story inthe end point here isn't do this
(40:01):
and gotta give you a house.
Matter of fact, he promises alot more than that actually
promises you hundreds of homes.
Yes. Right. And brothers andsisters, and what I believe, and
I think Scripture backs me up iswhat that promise is, is that
God has already has thoseprovided for us through the
(40:24):
community that we have ofbrothers and sisters in Christ
both here in in eternity. And sohow's that that's on titled in
your name, or titled in my name,or titled in someone else's
name? Is your house if you'reever in need? And I think that
that's the kind of openhandedness that God calls us
(40:44):
into. And that is the 100 footblessing. Yes. Yes. pours out
and has poured out on you.
Dan Schilling (40:51):
Yeah, well, I know what is say this to Michael
is, you know, in the midst ofthat journey, we we had resolved
that we were willing to rent andat the time, I was carrying
around Monopoly money in mypocket, prompted by Lord. And I
would say to folks, like if Iwould come to you today and say,
Hey, Michael, I was playingMonopoly with my sons a couple
(41:12):
of weeks ago, and I pulled thismonopoly money with the
Boardwalk and Park Place and acouple plastic, you know, the
hotels and whatever I'm holding,say, Man, look, I won. I mean,
look what I did. I mean, Icrushed these boys. When I
played with them a couple weeksago, you'd say, Hey, man, you
got problems. Like put thegame's over man put it back in
(41:32):
the box. And but what God wasshowing me was, it's all
temporal. The reason why youtell me that that's temporal,
man, why would you be doingthat? But everything we have
here is also temporal. Right?
And sometimes we get so caughtup in the game, in the thinking
that we're here. We'resojourners, we're foreigners.
We're This is not our home. Andso why Randy Alcorn, you and I
both? We didn't talk about himlike, like, why would we store
(41:54):
if we knew this? If we know whatwe say, we believe we know, why
would we be so consumed bystoring up preserving, having,
you know, investing all thethings that we do here when we
know this isn't our long termhome? So again, God was asking
us, are you willing to do it.
And so that other picture rightabove that shows us our last
(42:17):
picture we took there at thathome? And as a reminder, there
was God's provision for us inthat season. But it was time to
go to the next season, we'regoing to trust him in whether he
provides a house to live in ornot, you know, we can rent
because it's all short termjourney that we're
Michael Blue (42:34):
on here. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, the
Dan Schilling (42:37):
last thing I want to point out a picture and this
is kind of as we transition. Thepicture right there underneath
the feed sheep logo is us withour our best friends, the
tailors and their family. Andnot again, I want to reiterate
having a family and others thatyou're doing life with Jerry and
I still have a talk once a week,walk and pray and and do some
(43:00):
walking push ups together once aweek, and that he lives still on
I'm also we're on my phone now.
But having somebody that you'redoing life with, I think is a
key part of the journey, to havesomeone to sharpen to encourage
to beyond this obediencejourney. And so I just want to
encourage folks, we've been overthe years going through some
(43:24):
what we're going to bedeveloping into the point a
group together. And so just Ithink it's so key to have folks
alongside us in the journey. Youas well. Good.
Michael Blue (43:37):
Absolutely. Makes it fun. And pushes us. Yeah, to
trust God. Yeah. Yeah, let mepray for us. Yeah. God, thanks
so much for Dan and hiswillingness to share your story.
And thanks for the work that youhave done and are doing and how
you are continuing even to offerhim new opportunities to trust
(43:59):
today. And so I pray that youwould encourage each of us to
trust you and knowing that youdo certainly have all the houses
that we need all the cars thatwe need all our brothers and
sisters if we would but step outand trust you. So give us that
faith. We love you in Jesusname. Amen.
Dan Schilling (44:17):
Amen. Amen. Well, thanks, Michael, you know that
we're going to share a tease outsomething else in the future
about the I think God has addedanother zero and what we're
called to do this next season.
And I believe that's a seasonagain, to continue this journey
of trust. And so I'm still onthe journey. I know you're on
journey. So thank you folks, forlistening. We want to invite you
(44:39):
to join us on the journey again,we don't have it all figured
out. We're growing and learningto hear his voice to to follow
him and believing that God'sgonna continue to have us thrive
doesn't always look likethriving. Um, but I do believe
we abide and follow him screwingup the life was wrapping so
thanks for tuning in. God blessyou seek and next time
Hey, welcome to the FeedSheep podcast where we
help you hear God's voice followhis lead and thrive as a
disciple. I'm Dan Schilling.
I'll be one of your guides. Nowlet's get into today's topic.
All right. Hey, welcome toFeedSheep podcast. We're back
for part two. Michael, good tobe back together again here
we're gonna keep on are going onour journey here of the
Schilling family, I don't knowif this was a good idea or not.
(00:28):
Because sometimes I feel weirdtalking about all the details of
our life. But I guess this iswhat we got to do sometimes,
hey, this
Michael Blue (00:38):
is where we're going. Yeah, so you can't we
kind of ended last time, you hadwalked us through about up till
about age 30. We're, you know,your 2000 or so I don't want to
give away your age. And I mighthave just done so but that's
alright. We kind of we kind ofsaw God's faithfulness in your
first, you know, places to livejobs to have people to engage
(01:03):
with, you know, confirming withyou and with your wife, Sherry.
Along the way, as you kind ofbegin this family begin
listening to God. And so we weended with you giving a little
bit of a teaser of, of God'ssaying, I'm going to ask you to
trust me for $50 a month. ButI'm going to keep adding zeros
to this as you grow in faith. SoI think that's about where we
(01:25):
are in your journey. You'reworking at a school that you're
about to I think make a changein what you're doing. Yes,
Administrator do something else.
And I think that's what thesenext pictures are. So I'll turn
it over to you. At that recappoint.
Dan Schilling (01:40):
Well, and Michael, this is again, as we
grow on our journey, hear God'svoice while I was at the school.
One day on my drive home, I cantell you where I could drive to
that point today, if you werehere, and we're I'm in Florida
now. But if I was in Ohio, andcould drive that I can tell you,
right, we're on the road where Iwas when I fell, I heard God
speak to me, you're not going tobe here much longer. Now, I
(02:04):
think more this is one of thedangers of hearing God's voice
is that we sometimes hear it andthen we try to interpret what
that means exactly. You know, Ican take it and say, Oh, I'm
gonna die tonight, I'm not goingto be here on the earth much
longer. The rapture is going tohappen, we're all going to be
gone. I mean, so we have to bevery careful when we're hearing
(02:25):
God's voice. I think that's whywe need to do this journey and
community that we have peoplearound us that that are also
growing in their journey tohear, follow and thrive and can
we can bounce things off of Imean, it's part of sharing. As
we were talking here just alittle bit ago, before we
started today, I'm bouncingthings off, are you asking? Does
(02:46):
it sound like I'm hearing fromGod is my off track and having
people around you that are onthis journey is part of our our
goal for the whole aspect of theministry and putting these
points or groups together wherepeople boy made a term means
those who follow Jesus as theirguide and keeper. And so as
sheep who follow the GoodShepherd, that trust him that
(03:08):
he's leading us towards greenpastures, even if it doesn't
seem like it, even if it doesn'tfeel good, even if it's not
comfortable, but that we trusthim. And that on that journey
together. We can encourage eachother, as the scripture says was
still cold today. So that's thehearts become hardened. And he'd
restricted me. We'd stoppedfollowing we started trusting
ourselves and trusting thewealth we have or trusting the
(03:30):
things around us, instead offollowing him.
Michael Blue (03:33):
So we know he didn't call you home and the
rapture didn't happen. Yeah, sowhat does God mean when he said,
Yeah, you're not gonna be heremuch longer.
Dan Schilling (03:43):
So our season the school was wrapping up, we've we
felt called to family. And so wesaw families at the school
Christian school that weregetting divorced. And one of the
key aspects as we were lookingat marriage and family ministry,
the number number one reason fordivorce was money issues. And so
(04:07):
we moved back to the back bottomleft picture here is the picture
of the home we lived in. Thiswas my grandparents home growing
up the home is over 100 yearsold now. I've been in our family
for 80 years. I'll tell moreabout that in just a minute. But
(04:27):
this is where God called us andfor the next you know, we
thought we were going to developthis ministry and and then the
church asked us to come on staffand long story short guide
closed the doors there and wehad exhausted our savings that
we thought we're going to usethe launch this ministry while
the church was making theirdecision and so for the next
(04:48):
year and a half, that pictureabove again there at the farm. I
spent the next year and a halfpower washing manure at my dad,
his the farm that you aspartners with my brother at the
time, and it was a low point,because, you know, moving back
to my hometown, and people say,Hey, what are you doing now?
(05:09):
It's like, you know, powerwashmaneuver for my dad, you know,
I'm working at the farm like,wow, really? I never pictured
you like, yeah. And so if I hadto describe that time, I would
call lessons in humility. Theschool prospered while we were
there doubled in size and grew.
And I, you know, sometimesMichael, in those seasons of
life, you can think you'rebetter or think you're
something. And so I believe whyGod wanted me to go through the
(05:33):
season of power washing manurewas because I felt like he said
to me, I need to wash the youout of you, that if I really
want to use you to really haveyou be a part of doing the
things for me and my kingdom, itcan't be about you. Because
pride, essentially, I have tooppose you. And so, I'm not
saying that eliminate all pridefrom my life, you can ask
(05:55):
anybody around me and my family.
That's not I didn't happen, butit has planted the seeds of the
need to continue to walk andgrow and humility. And without
it, it would crush me. So Iimagine
Michael Blue (06:11):
on your resume, it was a little bit more polish
than a newer washer. Yeah. Well,it's hard.
Dan Schilling (06:24):
Yeah, it's hard to feel like you're awesome when
you're covered from head to toeand hog manure. So yeah, and hog
manure is, if anybody of youdon't know, once you get it on
your body and your skin, itdoesn't wash off, like the
smell, and the amount actuallysinks into your skin to your
hair. And so it was a roughseason. But it was in that
season, that again, I come backand say okay, I'll go anywhere,
(06:46):
I'll do anything. And that'swhere that those pictures right
above that are. When I came onstaff, then with Crown financial
ministries, I came to my wife asa before we actually came on
staff, I said, Hey, I see thisjob description we are going to
get we're going to use crownsmaterials, as part of the
ministry, we're developingfamily to family. And so I went
(07:10):
to go get some little learningATM bank for our son, Caleb, who
was turning five, because I knewit's good to start teaching the
kids when they're five. And yourdad wrote a book on, you know,
training kids when they wereyoung with their finances. So
I've been around that world andknew we needed to do that.
Right. And so I found thatthey're looking for field staff.
And when we looked at the jobdescription, my wife said, What
(07:31):
do you think this means here, itsays, you know, responsible to
secure the funding for the areaministry, I said, I'm pretty
sure that private means raiseyour own support. And so we went
to the one of the pictures hereis we went to this funding
training, and they told us, youknow, don't, here's all the
things you don't want to do. Youknow, don't try to be like
George Mueller. Don't try to,you know, you got to ask you got
(07:53):
to run appointments, you got todo these things. So I came back,
Michael, from going to thattraining. And I'm, you know,
running the run into play,during the funding appointments,
the meetings, but I was had aproblem inside and what the
Scripture says about being adouble minded man, you're
unstable in all your ways. Andthe double minus I had is when I
was in a meeting with you, Iwould be thinking, hey, I want
(08:17):
to help Mike, I want to help himgrow closer to Christ. I want to
help him understand God's wordas it deals with money. But I
also am thinking in the back ofmy mind, when should I ask him
for money? First call, secondmeeting third goal, you know,
whatever it is, and I'm like,God, what do I do and this is
where I believe he spoke to myheart. The Matthew six, you
(08:41):
know, pastors when talks aboutmoney there and that if you seek
first the king, Seek first thekingdom, then if you take care
of my business, I'll take careof yours. And that was a turning
point for us to say, Okay, guys,we're just gonna, we're gonna
trust you.
Michael Blue (09:01):
Yeah, and that's you mentioned, George Mueller.
And they told you not to beGeorge Mueller. And it sounds
like you may be feeling Godcalling me to be like George
Mueller. And for those of youwho are unfamiliar with George
Miller, he was a man who startedorphanages in in England. It
(09:21):
really response to just a needy,he had moved to England as a
pastor and saw these people whoneeded help, and so he began to
help them but one of the tenantsof his orphanage was he was
never to come to any personother than God, and asking for
help to fund the ministry. Andso he did ministry like that for
(09:43):
50 years. And so I got providedin such a way that you know,
10,000 plus orphans went throughtheir orphanages relying solely
on God and prayer to provide anyprovided above and beyond what
they needed. So that's that'swhat you mean by George Miller
said, You're you're going Fromhey, let's Let's go ask people
for money to Let's Ask God toprovide. Is that right?
Dan Schilling (10:07):
That's what he said it because the problem my
hope, again was the doublemindedness was the issue. The
issue was I wasn't able to sayfocus on the kingdom because I
had two kingdoms, you know, mykingdom? How am I going to
provide for myself so that I cando this thing for God. And I've
always said, there's only onething to focus on. You take care
(10:28):
of my business, and I'll takecare of yours. If you trust me.
You go, and don't worry aboutasking. You don't have to ask.
I'll provide. And so I went tomy wife who'd been through this
training as well. I didn't wantto tell her because I'm like,
no, no, I, we do want thetraining. She's already heard
this, don't do that. And I'mwrestling with the Lord and
like, she's not going to go forit. And it's not about her. It
(10:49):
was about me, really, I didn'twant to say, Honey, you I think
we should do this. But the day Itold her, we're standing out by
our garden, and I said, Istarted to weep. And she's like,
what's wrong? I said, I justfeel like God's telling me not
to ask, just to trust him. Andshe said to me, she said, then,
you know, which was notnecessary out of character for
(11:09):
her. But it was a interestingway. She said, Let's go for it.
Like, really? If this is God,we're gonna see him do amazing
things. If not, you give up onthe whole goofy deal and go get
a real job. This is this is awin win. I'm like, I get you're
right, I guess it is. And soMichael, here we are 19 years
later. And we've watched God dothat for us. And, you know, it's
(11:35):
not that I many times didn'twaver from it. I thought it was
just a short term test. Ithought it was just something
we're gonna do for, you know,maybe a couple of months, and
then get back into the plan.
Right. But
Michael Blue (11:47):
so you're we aren't, you've now been
powerwashing maneuver for 25years to fund your ministry.
Dan Schilling (11:56):
Yeah, so we would stay quit.
Michael Blue (11:58):
You quit Washington manure? Yep.
Dan Schilling (12:01):
Yeah. That was my last job before we started in
ministry. It have not beenanywhere else since. So
Michael Blue (12:09):
they're too similar jobs.
Dan Schilling (12:11):
Yeah. Dirty Jobs.
That show right.
Michael Blue (12:15):
powerwash manure that's that's kind of the
description. So for 19 years,you've you've had a job
effectively, that didn't have astable salary. Correct. You're
you're provided asking God toprovide. Alright, yeah. So tell
us how that started. Or whatelse?
Dan Schilling (12:34):
This is really where the $50 a month comes in.
And that season, I felt God saidit, you know, we were just just
we didn't know how it's gonnawork. Because when I left the
farm, I was working part time.
And it was like, this all kindof converge at the same time.
You know, I'd already said I wasdone, and then we're not going
to ask for support. And so now Iwas like, Oh, my gosh, what are
we gonna do? And within a coupleof weeks of when I was talking
(12:57):
with Sherry, I had a guy whocalled me said, Hey, I was
praying this morning, and HolySpirit just put you on my heart.
And I said, okay, and he said,he said that God just told me,
I'm supposed to support you. Andhe said, I don't like to do that
monthly stuff. So I'm just gonnasend you a check for $10,000.
And I'm, like, dumbfounded. AndI walk in the house and I'm in,
(13:17):
I'm in tears. Again, I haven'tbeen typically a weepy person.
So Sherry had heard the phonering. I come in, she's like, Oh,
no, who's dead? Nobody's dead. Itold her about the store. And it
was just a point of celebration.
Again, we were hearing God'svoice. We're following him
trusting him. No, it wasn'tscary. Absolutely. But he was
(13:42):
showing us at that time, like, Ineeded just 50 bucks a month
sometimes just to figure out howwe're gonna make all the bills
work. And it doesn't sound likemuch, but at the time, you know,
we didn't have a lot ofexpenses, but it was just like,
he said, You're gonna learn totrust me for the 50, but I'm
gonna keep adding zeros. And Ifelt like he showed me Michael,
(14:03):
in that time. He said, I'll tellyou when your last day is doing
the ministry. I'm thinking,Okay, well, what's the date,
I'll write it down. And I feltlike what he showed me is, the
last day of ministry for youwill be when you're checking
accounts of zero. When youremergency funds is zero, and
your ministry fund is zero,that's your last day and then
(14:25):
you can go look for somethingelse. But in the meantime, keep
your hands to the plow. Don'tlook back and we can look at
that scripture and see, youknow, that that we become unfit
if we're we don't we keeplooking back trying to figure
out how to take care of thesethings around us and for us, and
I'm not I'm not portraying thison anybody else. For their
(14:46):
journey of just this is what Godwas speaking to us. This is what
I'm calling you to. And it'sbeen hard I'm not gonna lie. I
mean, I have said over theyears, I've quit several 1000
times. And I would tell God, youknow, all Are these times these
years of like, I'm gonna quit,I'm just gonna go get a real
job. Right? And I feel like hewould check me on that and say,
(15:07):
what is his real job you keepreferring to? Like being apart
from being the center of my willfor your life? What does this
real job look like? And reallywhat, what I was trying to say,
Lord is where I'm in control.
Where I'm calling the shots arewhere I got my hands on the
wheel, I don't have to trust youand follow you. I can use the
gifts and talents you gave me,but I can use them to provide a
(15:29):
living that provides what Ithink I need. Because I don't
trust you to provide what Ineed.
Michael Blue (15:38):
Even that, I mean, and you know this, but you know,
even that's a false security ofcertainty. I mean, there's jobs
aren't certain incomes, notcertain, you know, there's
layoffs, there's dips inmarkets, there's all these
things. And so we always I thinkit's easy to look at something
we're not doing and say, Well,that would be more stable, that
would be more secure thinking.
Something different, I want todraw a story out that I know in
(16:02):
your life that's that's reallyencouraged me in my own life,
when we first met, you told thestories, you're telling kind of
some of your journey. So ifyou're not at this point, I
apologize. But no, go for it.
There's a there's a story.
around Christmas time, I thinkwhen you really were struggling
with this idea of trusting Godto provide. So I don't know if
you're willing to share thatstory.
Dan Schilling (16:24):
But you tell what you remember about and all that
it Oh.
Michael Blue (16:30):
Well, all right, fine. It's probably better
coming from the part I rememberis you you got to point around
Christmas time where yourministry account. Money was was
was pretty dry. There wasn'tmuch there. And I don't know,
maybe you had five kids at thistime four or five kids. And you
realize you're gonna have to goto your wife and say, We don't
(16:52):
have enough to buy Christmaspresents for our kids. Right?
Yeah. And so you and so you, Ithink you went to her and she
didn't she received about aswell as you could expect it to
be received. Yeah. Are youkidding me like this, this is
this is more than what we signedup for. So when I remember you
(17:12):
telling stories, so you decided,that's it. I know how to do
this. I know how to fix thisproblem. I'm gonna go write
support letters. So you went toyour office and started writing
support letters. Yeah. As youfinish the story. And so as
you're doing so, you felt likeGod was pressing on your heart,
an important lesson. And so whatwas it there that
Dan Schilling (17:32):
he was telling you? Well, if you can't see me
right now, if you're listening,I'm trying to not totally break
down. That's right. You'remaking me tell the story. Yeah,
exactly. Well, it was it wastough on ankle ly. I mean, it
was we didn't have to tell mywife, you know, she's willing to
be on this journey. But to sayto her, we're not gonna buy our
(17:53):
kids Christmas presents. Michaelwas like that. Look at her. I
was like, Why did I marry thisschmuck? You know? And it was
probably it was tough. And Ipretty much, you know, saying,
Lord, I'm not, I can't deal withthat. I can't, you know, have
her. She's done a lot. I don'twant to and it really was
selfish, self centered, too. SoI don't wanna make it sound like
(18:14):
we're just about her, you know,her being upset. But I'm like,
I'm gonna do it. I deserve theright I've earned the right to
go ask people for money. Right?
So I write the letters, I'mgetting ready to send them out.
It's like December the 17th. Wedidn't have money. You know,
it's like, I gotta get thishappening. And it's time I was
leading compass, North Americanteam, and I feel kind of
(18:38):
conflicted because I'm tellingthem to go do their end of the
year fundraising, but I don't doyou know, I'm not doing it. And
so I'm like, I'm doing I got theletters ready to send them out.
And that morning as I wasspending time the Lord I felt
like he said to me as a lovingfather in a strong yet caring
but disciplined way say to me,son, I love you. But if you send
out those letters, you're gonnahave to try to figure it out
(19:01):
from now on out. Are you gonnatrust me? Is a my way or your
way? And it was like, ah, gosh,you know, through letters in a
trash. So, okay, if we're gonnago down, I'll go down obeying.
And Michael, what ended uphappening was that ended up
being the largest month ofgiving we've ever had in the
(19:22):
ministry up to that point intime. No letters, no phone
calls. No, nothing other thanGod's sovereign handle
provision.
Michael Blue (19:31):
Couple of minutes and prayer, perhaps.
Dan Schilling (19:35):
My knees were worn out, but it really again
was a key turning point for us.
You know, yeah. And again, I itsvulnerability. I it was, it was
harder than you can imagine. Youknow, just to be like, oh, you
know, God provides we can buyChristmas presents. We were able
to do those things. But it wasnot just about Christmas
presents is about what he wasdoing in us and so what he was
(19:57):
showing us throughout to seeisn't as easy. I didn't call
you, Dan to teach people theseprinciples, I called you to live
them, and then testify out ofyour obedience to them. I said,
Minister, this job would be mucheasier if I could just say, Hey,
Michael, when you get nosituation, you need to trust
God. He's gonna provide, no, Idon't have to go through that.
But you should have to gothrough it. And I think that's
(20:18):
part of what we're talking aboutas our journey to hear, follow
and thrive as disciples. Andthat part of why I gotta believe
it's called you and I to thisprocess is a willingness to be
on that journey ourself, notperfect.
Michael Blue (20:34):
Absolutely not want it but one of the most
convicting quotes I think, I'veheard before is a pastor in
Waco, Texas. He made thiscomment in telling his story, he
said, we all want to experiencea miracle, like anything about
if I could see this miracle. Andmaybe it's we all want to
(20:56):
witness a miracle. But I thinkwe all want to experience
miracle. Yes, but none of uswant to be in a position to need
one. Yes, right. So the idea ofneeding a miracle. So if I
witnessed America and watchinghim, do it to someone else,
that's pretty neat. But if Iactually experience a miracle in
my life, it means I'm in aposition of needing supernatural
help, in order to get me out ofa situation that I miss. Yes.
(21:19):
And, and but it is, but what Ithink we know is that in those
situations, when you see Godcome through, when you see it,
it does strengthen your faith.
It doesn't make it easy,necessarily. The next time it
might make it a little biteasier, but it certainly
strengthens your faith andtrusting God for those things.
And you grow through this. Butlike I said, You didn't want to
(21:42):
be in that situation.
Dan Schilling (21:45):
Oh, no, right. I mean, like I said, that's why I
say quit several 1000 times likeI want to do, let me just have a
normal life. Let me just gothis. And I gotta believe
Michael, honestly, I really do.
It'd be great. When we're inheaven. We can ask some of the
characters who we admire in theScriptures, the Abraham's Paul's
there with a man was it hardlike, oh, man, it was all about,
oh, you know, like, they werebasil like, Man, I don't want to
(22:08):
do this anymore. I want out. And
Michael Blue (22:15):
yeah, I just preached on Abraham this last
Sunday. And one thing thatstruck me is when he was 99
years old, he'd received thepromises of God, like five times
at this point. Yes. Right. Andhe's like, next year, you're
gonna get Isaiah. And duringthat year between when he was
born in that promise, he wentand gave his wife away again to
another man. Yeah. And so yeah,I got to think that he's like,
(22:39):
Yeah, I don't know. Great,graciously. I was called a man
of faith and righteousness. Butit certainly was God's hand
along the way.
Dan Schilling (22:50):
Well, I think what it's so good to say that
you're here. And we've, it's,it's not perfect. We're not
we're not, you know, we're not,we're human. And so the midst of
our flesh, and our humaneness isstill a part of all of our
stories. And so, wherever you'reat today, if you're listening, I
just want to urge you today thatdoesn't matter where you're at
(23:11):
on the journey, it doesn'tmatter what you'd had behind
you, doesn't matter. Maybe yousaid, Well, I didn't have
parents that knew Jesus, Ididn't have a you know, I didn't
get rededicated my life. When Iwas 20. I got I got a mountain
load of garbage. I got all kindsof stuff. And God surely can't
do these things to me. And Ijust want to tell you, that's a
lie, that God wants to begin agood work in you He who began a
(23:34):
good work and he was faithful tocomplete it. And God is in a
journey. And each of us He isfaithful to complete this
process of what we talked aboutsanctification, right? He's,
he's helping us grow in ourjourney to hear follow and
thrive. Yeah. Well, I want to, Iwant to pick up the pace here a
little bit just to kind of getthese next couple in. So the the
(23:56):
couple pictures here Next,you'll see a couple of vans,
even in that family picture,there's a green van. So we we
had five children at the time.
We get pregnant with number six,which means now we need an eight
passenger vehicle and thatlittle Honda minivan delay was
seven. My wife wasn't a fan ofdouble buckling. So we were
trusting God to show us what todo. At this at the same time we
(24:20):
were God was helping us pay offall of our debt. That was part
of our our journey. Earlier onthe $500 actually was to put 500
Extra down on our debt, and wewatched God from 2006 to 2011
pay off $45,000 of debt we weremaking $2,000 a month at the
(24:40):
time, had five children. And soagain, we were watching God's
provision. He was supplyingother ways. I tell folks over
the years there was no marijuanagrowing on the farm. There was
no other funny business or cashcrop or my wife was at work. I
mean, it was all God was showingus different way. Here's how he
can provide and he was. So the$5,000 decision was this van, we
(25:03):
felt like God began to ask us.
And I was telling people thestatement when I would teach
about God's ownership, I said,it's easy to say that God owns
it all until he asked you forthe keys. And so I felt like I
said, Okay, you tell people thatnow, I want you to give away
that green van. I'm like, wait,we need that we're about to get
(25:25):
out of debt. And if I sell thatvan, we're gonna be completely
out of debt. Got it providedthis other van, you see this
gray minivan, that was an eightpassenger minivan God provides
for us for like, $2,000. Solike, this is great, we're gonna
end up paying off the debtearly. And so for nine months,
Michael, even though I knew Godwas leading us to, to give the
(25:46):
van away, I was trying to sellit. Because I didn't want to. So
I admit, again, I'm a chronic,you know, problematic child when
it comes to God, like, but hewas patient with me kind in the
midst of my disobedience. Butlong story short, God had us
give that to a young lady. Andhe used that in a story then to
help me start to understand whatreal giving is like, and sort of
(26:08):
the FedEx store uses that. Whenshe came and said to me, he's
like, why would you do this forme? No one's ever been so nice.
At first, I want to stop you. Sothis actually is not a gift from
me. It's a gift from yourheavenly Father. Because I
didn't want to give it to you.
The reality is, I wanted to keepit for myself. And that's the
truth. But this was a gift fromyour heavenly Father. So if the
(26:29):
FedEx guy comes and drops off apackage at your house, you don't
invite him over for dinner. Youknow, he's just doing his job.
And so I told her, I said, I'mjust the FedEx guy, I'm just the
delivery person, God wanted youto have this van. Because he
wants you to know that he lovesyou carefree. He's gonna take
care of you. She was goingthrough a divorce her husband
and left she's a single mom. Andgot used that as a tool, which
(26:51):
is interesting. Michael, we justheard from her in this last
year, she sent us a messagefound us on Facebook and said,
Hey, I just wanted to let youknow that back I had never
forgot about what you did. Andnow I'm in a position now or I
was able to give a van away tosomebody else when they were in
need. And so it's like, praiseGod. I said, you know, it wasn't
(27:11):
us again, it was what God asksus to do. This isn't a story
about our kindness orgenerosity. It's about God's
goodness, his kindness, hisgenerosity, that he wants to
flow through us. And so it'sbeen just a part of that process
of, of seeking and trusting and
Michael Blue (27:30):
that's good. Yeah, I'm struck too is I think about
the story of trusting is you'renot the you shouldn't be a
receiver Dan. Right, tell memore man, I think we put in we
put people in categories ofwell, I'm, I give or I receive,
and like, you know, I'm asender, I'm a goer, we have
these categories that we thinkare, you know, almost siloed.
(27:53):
But I think Scripture teaches usthat we best work in community,
when when we are all in thecycle of giving and receiving.
Right? I'm a giver, and Ireceive I have to trust I have
to depend on the community. AndI have to give and I get to
give. Right? And I do think thatone thing that I think we'll see
in people's stories is evenpeople who don't have a high
(28:13):
paying job. God givesopportunities to participate in
giving that was a story of theMacedonian church. So Lily,
which is the church, right? Yep.
Widow gives the mind. So part ofit. Yeah. And so got invited,
still invited you even thoughyou were relying on other people
to provide opportunities to giveand that that's not just a van.
I know. And I don't know ifwe're gonna get to that part of
(28:35):
the story or not. But you'vedone more in that way that would
would surprise people andgiving?
Dan Schilling (28:42):
Yeah, well, and it was just a part of the
process. Right? He was, again, Ican't just teach it. I can't
teach people about God'sownership. I can't teach them
about trusting. I can't teachthem about a willingness to
give, even when it doesn't makesense, right? Because it didn't
make sense. The numbers didn'tmake sense, you know, so. So
what that did, though, was afoundation for us for that next
(29:06):
season. We came on anotherpicture there. We were on staff
with Compass with Howard Dayton,who was the founder of Crown
financial ministries, co founderwith linear Bruket. And they
Howard transitioned from crownand we felt God was calling us
to be on the team with him asthey were launching compass. And
(29:29):
so we're pictured down therewith our original guys that were
a part of that journey. And sothis was a great season of life
again, Michael to serve withHoward and learn from him. A man
of humility, great character.
And just grateful for thatseason of ministry. The next
picture there beside that yousee, is my couple of my boys
(29:51):
sitting on some concrete blocksand a foundation there. We began
to feel like God was staring inour hearts. We had a guy come to
us and ask us, Hey, have youever thought about building
addition to your house? We hadbeen thinking about it. But we
had committed we were nevergoing to borrow money again. We
said again, if it's God'svision, he'll supply the
(30:12):
provision. And so we just kindof put a stake in the ground
after that debt was paid off,and 2011 that we were never
going to borrow. And he keptasking me for like, for a couple
of years that, well, if youdecide you're going to do an
addition, he said, I'd like to,I'd like to help. And I said,
Okay, great. He said, Yeah. Hesaid, what do you what do you
think? And I said, well, we'dlike to put something. So what
do you what? If you do it, I'llpay I'll pay. I'll give $5,000
(30:35):
toward it. I'll pay towards agreat, thank you. So it's like a
year later comes back says,Well, I've never had somebody
where I gave an offer like thatthey didn't take me up on or do
something. I said, Well, we'renot going to borrow and he said,
Well, he said, You can borrow?
It's okay. And so I know thatI'm not saying it's against the
law, God's not gonna punish you,if you borrow I just it was this
(30:57):
was our personal conviction. Andso he said, Well, what have you
found anything else? And yeah,the concrete works about 10,000
hours? Well, I'll tell you what,I'll pay for the concrete. All
right. So again, we don't doanything. You know, it's another
year later, he says, What what'sgoing on? Why wouldn't you? You
know, I've offered to do that.
So we don't have the money toget it under roof. Because I
just can't see how you're evergoing to have it if you don't,
(31:20):
if you don't borrow the money,as well. We're not going to
we're going to trust that we'veseen him provide. And so he
said, where are you at now. AndI said, Well, after we had a
hailstorm and had damage, I saidafter this whole thing and
settled up, we'll probably haveclose to 20,000. So he called me
back the next day and said, Hey,we, my wife, and I were praying,
and we're gonna, we're gonnamatch your 20 and provide labor.
(31:42):
And so I'm not a greatmathematician, but I could
figure out enough that we canprobably get enough to get it
under roof. And so this reallybecame our the $50,000 decision,
it ended up it ended up a 1200square foot addition. So if you
factor that in just at thetypical $100 per square foot, we
were providing labor, he wasproviding some, but there's
(32:05):
still a lot of expense. AndMichael about halfway, as we got
just started, I said, Hey, weneed to stop. Because I'm about
out of money. And, and he toldme said then he said, God told
me that I'm supposed to help youget this addition. He said, So
you focus on doing what God'scalled you to do. And I'll focus
on what God's called me to do.
(32:26):
He said, we're going to, we'regoing to take care of this. And
so he helped me finish thisedition, which is that next
picture there, when you see us,just down to the second to a
left picture, they're sitting infront of the kitchen and living
room. And it was an amazingjourney. I mean, it was hard to
trust him, because there were,you know, things that God
(32:46):
provided that we would havenever imagined that he would
provide, as he did. And so Ithink part of the story.
Michael Blue (32:55):
Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's good. So I think
there's one one more, there'smore than one more. But we
probably don't have time for allof them. Unless we're gonna
Dan Schilling (33:06):
wrap up with just two more as we wrap up the you
know, we were at a point wherewe have our sixth child, and we
feel like God begins to ask usAre we willing to trust him in
this area is looking again atMatthew six. And when he talks
about, you know, soap foryourselves treasures in heaven,
I felt like he's asked me tostuff I wanted to entrust you
(33:26):
with something that's eternal,would you be willing to receive
now, as you could look downthere, and one that pictures
where there's six of us, andthere's one point we had six
that were 12 and under. And soit was a hectic time of life,
you know, the thought of havinganother child was not a high on
our list, to say the least. Butwe felt like God was asking us
(33:48):
just to wait, don't do anythingpermanent to. And just to trust
him. It was it was actually I'llbe transparent. This was hard
for my wife and I, because shewas like, why won't you do
something? You know, like, I'mlike, I just feel like God is
telling me not to. It's like,yeah, right, you know, like, and
so there were times it wastough. But it came a point in
(34:08):
time, we're gonna begin toreally ask me that, would you be
willing to trust me? And so wehave seven years, five years
between number six and numberseven, Jessie and Noah. But it
was a it's a interesting,Michael, when it's a concept.
When a baby is a concept whenthere's not a name and a person
(34:30):
things. It's easy to think no,but when there's a person a
name, and now he's no. And so Ijust want to say this, that
sometimes there's parts of ourjourney that we have, we're kind
of locked in like, I don't wantthat gift. I don't want that
blessing. You know, God, becausewe don't know what that might
look like. doesn't have a nameor a face to it. Right? Right.
(34:53):
So you have that.
Michael Blue (34:56):
What's that? Once you do, you can't imagine life
without him.
Dan Schilling (34:59):
Never Never, and so no has been, he's probably
the biggest daddy's boy of allof them. And so he's been a
great gift to me. But I know tous as a family, as well. And so
the next kind of turn in thejourney is we began to feel like
God was asking us to, we hadstarted to come to Florida to
serve with our team here. Halfthe year, felt like God was
(35:23):
asking us to, to sell our home,again, 100 year old home 80
years in the family. And again,there's so many things in life
we started grabbing hold of andholding on tightly to, and yet
God stopped wanting us to holdso tightly to things here. And
so this is really where the$500,000 the next zero comes in.
And it was long story short, wefelt like God asked us to, we
(35:49):
had taken a couple through aBible study with us years ago,
with crown and then discipling,caring for them. And we were to
ask them if they wanted to buythe home. They said they were
interested but wonder how muchand we were praying and praying
about like what we should sellto them for got the house
appraised and appraised at 265.
And, and when we were talking tohim on the phone, the one of the
(36:12):
guys said to me said well howthe markets up right now, it'll
probably sell for you could sellfor over 300. But I knew we
couldn't sell it to him for 300.
Because that would put them in aposition of being upside down.
So we're conflicted trying todecide what, at the same time,
there was a couple who lived acouple houses down from the
rental where we lived inFlorida. And they wanted us to
(36:33):
purchase their home. And but wedidn't have the cash, you know,
in the sale of our house wasn'tgonna be enough. We had some
folks here in Florida who said,Hey, we want to help you make up
the difference. So that you cancome here in the hole and not
have to borrow money. And so Iwas like, Well, God's providing
and and then we're asking thiscouple about their interest in
(36:56):
this and yes, what do you wantto sell it for? And I felt as we
were praying one day, I felt theLord put this question on my
heart to ask him if you had topay cash for the home, how much
could you pay? And so when wetalked to him, he said, Well, he
said, If you want to know howmuch we've got saved, we've
saved 100,000. We don't have anydebt, paid for our cars,
everything else, we've got100,000. And in my mind, I'm
thinking, Oh, well, you're abouta third of the way there
(37:16):
brother. And he said, So what doyou think I said, Well, we're
gonna we'll pray about it andjust figure out what that is.
And so that week, as we werepraying, we felt God asked us,
would you be willing to sellthem the house for the 100 that
they have saved? Now, am I gonnabite you? Or are they gonna be I
was listening. But there's timeswhen there's these moments in
life, sometimes when I hear theword say these things that kind
of take a couple steps back.
Like, whew. And this wasprobably the biggest one. And we
(37:39):
are in a position where, youknow, we haven't we didn't have
retirement, we didn't havecollege savings. I had a guy
asked me said, Do you have aretirement, right? You don't
make college savings, you don'thave anything, you have one
asset, it's worth 300, andyou're gonna sell it for 100. He
said, That'd be absolutelystupid. Unless the spirit God's
calling you to do it. If it is,it's gonna be a heck of a story.
(38:01):
And I said, Sure, hope so. Andso long story short, we did. As
an act of obedience is an act ofdesire to because again, it's
easy. And I felt like that'sit's easy to say we trust him
until we put in a place where wehave to trust him. It's easy to
say that God owns at all till heasked us for the keys. And he
was asking us for the keys hegave us it was a gift. He gave
(38:22):
it to us. And are we willing topass that on? And so long story
short, we thought that the housein Florida was not going to
happen if we did that. But Godthen provided through some very
kind folks. Little north of$400,000 than to provide and
(38:43):
were able to get the house. Sothe bottom right hand. Picture
there is the home now that God'sprovided for us. These this
couple that it asked us aboutpurchasing their home that's
provided that for us as the nextpart of our, our journey.
Michael Blue (39:06):
And how much is your mortgage?
Dan Schilling (39:09):
Nothing zero.
Michael Blue (39:13):
Yeah, it's, it's, it's good. I mean, I think that
it's probably not going to makeits way into many financial
planning textbooks as a way topurchase a home or but it's a
you know, it's not a traditionalstory, either of selling a home
or buying a home. And you know,what I think what I like about
(39:39):
the story is how he's grown yourtrust in different ways. You
know, it started with the oldcar and then it was a addition
and then it's this and justknowing that God pushes the
boundaries of our faith back astep as we learn to trust him.
And I know that your story inthe end point here isn't do this
(40:01):
and gotta give you a house.
Matter of fact, he promises alot more than that actually
promises you hundreds of homes.
Yes. Right. And brothers andsisters, and what I believe, and
I think Scripture backs me up iswhat that promise is, is that
God has already has thoseprovided for us through the
(40:24):
community that we have ofbrothers and sisters in Christ
both here in in eternity. And sohow's that that's on titled in
your name, or titled in my name,or titled in someone else's
name? Is your house if you'reever in need? And I think that
that's the kind of openhandedness that God calls us
(40:44):
into. And that is the 100 footblessing. Yes. Yes. pours out
and has poured out on you.
Dan Schilling (40:51):
Yeah, well, I know what is say this to Michael
is, you know, in the midst ofthat journey, we we had resolved
that we were willing to rent andat the time, I was carrying
around Monopoly money in mypocket, prompted by Lord. And I
would say to folks, like if Iwould come to you today and say,
Hey, Michael, I was playingMonopoly with my sons a couple
(41:12):
of weeks ago, and I pulled thismonopoly money with the
Boardwalk and Park Place and acouple plastic, you know, the
hotels and whatever I'm holding,say, Man, look, I won. I mean,
look what I did. I mean, Icrushed these boys. When I
played with them a couple weeksago, you'd say, Hey, man, you
got problems. Like put thegame's over man put it back in
(41:32):
the box. And but what God wasshowing me was, it's all
temporal. The reason why youtell me that that's temporal,
man, why would you be doingthat? But everything we have
here is also temporal. Right?
And sometimes we get so caughtup in the game, in the thinking
that we're here. We'resojourners, we're foreigners.
We're This is not our home. Andso why Randy Alcorn, you and I
both? We didn't talk about himlike, like, why would we store
(41:54):
if we knew this? If we know whatwe say, we believe we know, why
would we be so consumed bystoring up preserving, having,
you know, investing all thethings that we do here when we
know this isn't our long termhome? So again, God was asking
us, are you willing to do it.
And so that other picture rightabove that shows us our last
(42:17):
picture we took there at thathome? And as a reminder, there
was God's provision for us inthat season. But it was time to
go to the next season, we'regoing to trust him in whether he
provides a house to live in ornot, you know, we can rent
because it's all short termjourney that we're
Michael Blue (42:34):
on here. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, the
Dan Schilling (42:37):
last thing I want to point out a picture and this
is kind of as we transition. Thepicture right there underneath
the feed sheep logo is us withour our best friends, the
tailors and their family. Andnot again, I want to reiterate
having a family and others thatyou're doing life with Jerry and
I still have a talk once a week,walk and pray and and do some
(43:00):
walking push ups together once aweek, and that he lives still on
I'm also we're on my phone now.
But having somebody that you'redoing life with, I think is a
key part of the journey, to havesomeone to sharpen to encourage
to beyond this obediencejourney. And so I just want to
encourage folks, we've been overthe years going through some
(43:24):
what we're going to bedeveloping into the point a
group together. And so just Ithink it's so key to have folks
alongside us in the journey. Youas well. Good.
Michael Blue (43:37):
Absolutely. Makes it fun. And pushes us. Yeah, to
trust God. Yeah. Yeah, let mepray for us. Yeah. God, thanks
so much for Dan and hiswillingness to share your story.
And thanks for the work that youhave done and are doing and how
you are continuing even to offerhim new opportunities to trust
(43:59):
today. And so I pray that youwould encourage each of us to
trust you and knowing that youdo certainly have all the houses
that we need all the cars thatwe need all our brothers and
sisters if we would but step outand trust you. So give us that
faith. We love you in Jesusname. Amen.
Dan Schilling (44:17):
Amen. Amen. Well, thanks, Michael, you know that
we're going to share a tease outsomething else in the future
about the I think God has addedanother zero and what we're
called to do this next season.
And I believe that's a seasonagain, to continue this journey
of trust. And so I'm still onthe journey. I know you're on
journey. So thank you folks, forlistening. We want to invite you
(44:39):
to join us on the journey again,we don't have it all figured
out. We're growing and learningto hear his voice to to follow
him and believing that God'sgonna continue to have us thrive
doesn't always look likethriving. Um, but I do believe
we abide and follow him screwingup the life was wrapping so
thanks for tuning in. God blessyou seek and next time
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