Here is a Different Tithing Story by Emily M.

When I met my husband, his parents were on the brink of financial ruin. His mother’s fragile health … led to deep indebtedness, and in spite of generous help from family and the Church … declared bankruptcy.

This was a terrible, humiliating time for them – they … continued to pay a faithful tithe, [but ] no windows opened.

I have heard many windows of heaven tithing stories, and they are real and true, but I have often missed the rest of Malachi …

14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?
15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.
17 And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

 “It is vain to serve God,” is something that is easy to say when the correspondence of God’s blessings to my obedience does not match what I think it should …  There are a lot of dishonest people out there who seem to be doing pretty well for themselves in spite of their behavior. They might be happy, delivered from the bad economy, set up in a mansion, and they have not paid tithing or kept the commandments.

But the next verses say it all … “A book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them….”

The ultimate blessings of tithing are not of this life or this world, but are eternal. Those who pay shall be the Lord’s in the day when he makes up his jewels… It’s hard to be living in difficult economic times and hear the miraculous tithing stories and want one, without getting it. [However] my in-laws’ financial situation forced them to move in with us within a couple of years of our marriage. Having them in my home has been a gift for my family. I didn’t know them well, but we became dear friends. When my mother-in-law died two years after they moved in I was so grateful for the time we had shared together. I would never have gotten to know her and love her as well if their financial circumstances had not forced them to live with me …  Paying tithing was not insulation from calamity. What I believe it did, though, is help all things, even bankruptcy, work together for good.

I love the basket-of-food tithing stories; they make me misty-eyed every time. [But] even more inspiring, though, are the stories of the noble people who continue to pay it in spite of job loss and health expenses and the economy… Sometimes the only immediate blessing of paying tithing is to stand at peace in the presence of God. It is not easy, but it is enough.

By: M., Emily. A Different Tithing Story. 2010. Segullah. 17 May 2010 <segullah.org/daily-special/a-different-tithing-story>.

Cindy Beale, popular Christian author and speaker, tells this compelling story. With her permission, we repost:

 One July morning in 2002 at church I wrote out our tithe check for the month. I held the check in my hand and just stared at it as the bucket made its way toward our aisle. Chris held my hand and I simply prayed, “God, this amount of money could buy us groceries for most of the month. But, it’s yours and I want you to know that we trust you.”

I went about the rest of the day not giving any thought to the prayer I prayed. The next day it was raining but I needed to run an errand. I left our house and ended up going down a different street — not the one I typically drive down. As I was driving, I noticed something in the road that looked an awful lot like money. And as surely as I passed it, I realized that it was. I heard a voice in my mind say, “Turn around.” Reluctantly, I did. I approached the wad of money and carefully bent down to pick it up. It was soaking wet, but it was still money. I looked all around me just expecting someone to say, “Hey, I just dropped that.”

Nothing…

I got in my car, drove back home and walked through the door with a lump of wet bills in my hands. The look on my husband’s face was priceless. (I think he thought I robbed someone.) With stunned looks on our faces, we counted $520 … nearly two times the amount of the tithe check I’d written the day before.

Coincidence?  Whatever.  My God [is] big and He can do anything He wants to. And if He wants to show his baby girl (that would be me) that he can provide in the middle of a street on a rainy Monday afternoon … I think He will.

 Malachi 3:10 is the only place in the Bible where God actually tells His people to test Him. He says, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

The floodgates opened for our family that rainy, July afternoon.1

1, “To Tithe or Not To Tithe.” Marriage, Mentoring and Motherhood. 2008. CindyBeale.com. (May 8, 2010).

He was raised in a poor Mormon-sheepherding family. By age 14, his family entrusted him to move sheep hundreds of miles on his own. Later, he spent two years on amission for his LDS church. While on mission, his family went entirely bankrupt. When he returned home, he knew he must further his education. But he had to talk his way into college admissions because he hadn’t finished high school. “

Willard Marriott worked off his community college tuition by teaching theology classes. When he finished those, he transferred to the University of Utah, and sold woolen underwear to lumberjacks to pay for his tuition.

Nearing graduation, he grew interested in A&W root-beer franchises. He remembered traveling through hot, muggy Washington, D.C., while on mission and thought the place was perfectly suited for root- beer stands. So on May 20, 1927, (the day Charles Lindbergh launched his transatlantic flight) Marriott simultaneously launched a nine- stool root- beer stand with borrowed money in the nation’s capitol.1

Summer heat brought booming success; but winter temperatures brought plummeting sales. Marriott and his bride, Alice Sheets, stood to go under financially. But rather than taking their shingle down, they covered it.4 The two hid the franchise sign and went to work quickly, adding a large assortment of “warm” foods into their stand. (At the time this was a rather new concept.) They eventually added “hot Mexican-style food to their menu and adopt[ed] the name Hot Shoppe … The tiny enterprise flourished in spite of the Great Depression, and the Marriotts — who were hard-working and dedicated Mormons — soon diversified into airline catering, cafeterias, and institutional food service.”5 Later, at the insistence of his son, Marriott very hesitantly entered the hotel industry — the chain which bears his name.

In Spirit to Serve: Marriott’s Way, J. Willard Marriott Jr. cites that “growing up Marriott” meant while doing a job — any job “perfection was one notch below the desired result” (1997). 6 The younger Marriott remembers polishing his father’s Sunday shoes for hours in order to pass his father’s “grueling inspections.” Business modules today cite Marriott’s relentless management style, grueling hard work, and driving belief “to stick with any job until it is done right,” as a recipe for taking … “a small nine-stool root- beer stand in 1927…” [and turning it] into one of the largest hospitality, hotel chains and food services companies in the world.”2

According to LDS records, Marriott remained the highest tithe payer in his denomination. He was also an avid philanthropist giving to highly patriotic causes. At his death in 1985, the company Marriott founded had more than 1,400 restaurants and 143 hotels and resorts around the world, which together earned revenues in excess of $4.5 billion.”3

By Cindy R. Chamberlin, 2010.
Sources:

1, 2, 3 “From Sheep to Sodas: The Early Years of J. Willard Marriott.” Famous - Entrepreneurs. 2010. Motivation and Strategies for Entrepreneurs Evan Carmichel.com. (April 22, 2010).

4 “Marriott, J. Willard Marriott.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (April 22, 2010).

5,6 “Marriot Jr. Bio. Growing Up Marriott.” J. Willard Marriott Jr.— Biography. 1932/1997. Growing up Marriott. (Web April 2010).

This modern-day politician tithed 10 percent of his campaign volunteers’ time to local charities. “Time that could have been spent stuffing mailers and phone-banking was spent building houses for the poor,”¹ says Dahlia Lithwick, a reporter. At times during the campaign when insults were flying, Perriello continually refused to stoop to political mudslinging; believing Americans were smarter than political antics and wishing, instead, to call them to a higher level of integrity — service.

Tom Perriello, ran for the 5^th District in Virginia congressional seat in the 2008 election based on an unprecedented campaign. According to campaign counts, the team logged more than 1,700 volunteer hours around the district feeding the homeless and doing other charitable work.² The congressman has been called anything from “the most courageous man ,” to “most vulnerable,” and “even self deprecating.”  However Perriello kept his campaign above the mud and won.          

“I was raised to believe that a strong faith is a lived faith that must be made clear by our deeds. I want my campaign for Congress to reflect those same values,” says Tom Perriello.

At the close of his campaign Perriello summarized his views.  Top of Form

“People want to be called to serve,” he says. “If, after 9/11, President Bush had asked us to work toward energy independence or asked college students to learn Farsi so they could assist State or CIA on the ground, we would have done it. … But our leaders from both parties were never willing to ask us to do anything. There was no call to service.

“Ours is a community-service generation …” he says. “We understand that the big divisions in America are not even about politics; it’s a whole new way of thinking that throws traditional politics out the window.”

By:  Cindy R. Chamberlin, 2010,

SOURcES:

1  Lithwick, Dahlia. “Goode Riddance.” Slatenotes. Posted Friday, Nov. 7, 2008, http://slatenotes.com.

2  Perriello, Tom . “Campaign Press Release.” Campaign Headquarters.  May 12, 2008.

 I  found, this story while reading about tithing …

A businessman was sitting in his office when his clergyman came in, soliciting funds for the church. The businessman wrote a generous check and had just handed it over when a messenger rushed in and announced that the man’s business had suffered an enormous financial setback.

“Give that check back to me,” the businessman demanded.

The clergyman had no choice but to hand it over, saying, “Of course, I understand. This news has changed everything.”

“You bet it has!” the businessman said, tearing the check into little pieces. Then he wrote another check and gave it to the clergyman for twice the original amount!

Unknown. About Us: Tithing ©. 2010. Ananda Palo Alto, Calif., home page. April 2010

 <http: //www.anandapaloalto.com>.

I reached for my aching, swollen jaw — and looked down at my three toddlers playing and smearing Playdough — everywhere. Never down, much less out, I had “sprung” for the necessary and “decadent” root canal but disregarded sage advice: “Give yourself a week to recover.” Now, even Tylenol 3 was as effective as candy.

As the hours wore on, the children grew restless. They needed walking, reading, playing with, meals and a mother.  I needed sleep. I looked at my options: my mother couldn’t take time off from work; my friends could spare but a few hours. And so I reached for my check ledger. As I crunched the numbers, I realized there was budget enough, but certainly none for a baby sitter or helper while I recovered.

I worked the numbers again. Suddenly I noticed something: I hadn’t paid my tithe. Why that would be just enough money for a nanny-for-a-week.  And then I began to wrestle God for His check. Wasn’t my swollen jaw comparable to the mission field?  Weren’t these three messy toddlers His children too?  Shamefully, I went over all the misuse/abuse/miss-appropriation of tithe funds I ever knew. I even made God a list.  If that wasn’t enough, I pointed out church workers driving Cadillacs (pretty low I know).  Finally, I asked what kind of God he was to “ask his ‘girl’ to walk about miserably for such a relatively small check?”

But somewhere in that argument, I couldn’t squelch the microscopic-size voice telling me differently. It was like God was saying “You’re right honey; but put it in the mail anyway —put it in the mail.”  And so seconds before the postman arrived, I put in the box.  I’d like to say a happy, contrite woman put that check in the mailbox; but that would be lying. I remember actually slamming it into the mail and saying “whatever” and “there you go.”

I heard the postman click my mailbox shut. And now, I don’t believe in writing in the clouds, or voices, or silly dreams, but as the postman walked down my sidewalk, my phone rang. Literally it rang, and as long as I live I will remember that ring.

“Cindy how long has it been since you and the boys had a vacation?” Suddenly warm tears streamed down my face. It was Jean-Anne a church friend from the nearby Tri-Cities, Wash. Jean-Anne continued “If you can get just drive 45 minutes to our house, we are headed to our lake lot in Canada and we want to take you and the boys with us.” Now Jean-Anne didn’t know I was recovering from a complex-root canal.  But she was impressed right that minute to invite us on her family’s vacation.

My boys and I spent one delightful week on prime real-estate beside a beautiful lake, enjoying home-made meals, loving friends that acted as nannies to each of the boys, with unlimited fun, boats and more.

Later, while lying on a sunny deck sipping iced tea, I realized, I hadn’t been able to obtain a baby sitter. I had, instead, been able to obtain a first-class vacation with built-in nannies at a fine resort. And  the hostess refused over and over to take a dime! I have never had a vacation like that before or since.

Suddenly I heard that same faint, microscopic-size voice ask me from somewhere if I wanted my measly tithe check back. And with a smile — I realized my jaw had healed.

Recently a blogger e-mailed the GLEANER saying: “Not everyone who pays tithe gets rich.” And guess what? He’s right. Sometimes tithe is only God’s little handshake that the other 9/10ths will be alright.

By Cindy R Chamberlin, 2010.

This entrepreneur was ahead of his time. More than 100 years ago, he promoted women employees to supervisors. He also hired company doctors and dentists, and provided carriage rides, free concerts and athletic facilities (including a swimming pool) and rooftop garden for employees. Besides providing ongoing lessons like cooking and sewing classes, he arranged for immigrants to prepare for citizenship tests. His employees worked largely with their hands, so he even hired an onsite ─ manicurist. 2

Henry John Heinz (1844─1919), of the legendary Heinz 57 Ketchup, was born in October 1844, and he began selling vegetables out of his parents’ garden when he was only 8 years old. With each year, his success grew, and he progressively took over more and more of his parents’ garden ─ ultimately supplying most of the area merchants and making a large income. However his Lutheran, immigrant parents were set on him becoming a minister and enrolled him in the Allegheny Seminary at 14.

Regardless of their desires, it was clear Heinz had a knack for business, and instead, he ended up taking bookkeeping classes at Duff’s Business College in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Still he continued to grow and sell vegetables.

He made an instant inroad into the market with his horseradish. Horseradish was a popular seasoning then and his bottled version provided housewives a way to skip the arduous task of cleaning and grating it. Another reason consumers readily bought his product, was he used only clear bottles. In the days before strict Food and Drug Administration packaging laws, shoppers were frequently sold items in murky bottles which most often contained cheap, unwanted fillers. Heinz’s clear bottles won buyer confidence.

In 1869, he founded H.J. Heinz, Inc., in Sharpsburg (a suburb of Pittsburgh). Besides horseradish, another venture he made big were his pickles. Heinz was known for his bold pickle marketing, painting large pickles on buildings and landscapes. (This was marketing ahead of its time.) His next big venture was the company’s trademark ketchup. Heinz’s drive and belief in hard work, cumulated in over 60 garden good lines. One day while on the train, he saw an advertisement for 21 kinds of shoes. He was fascinated with the marketing concept (this was before 31 Flavors and multiple listings were common). Heinz combined his wife’s and his favorite numbers “5″ and “7,” put them together, rounded to the nearest number of his merchandize and came up with 57.

^{Story by Cindy R. Chamberlin}

^Sources:

1 Quentin R. Skrabec, H.J. Heinz: A Biography, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, North Carolina.

2 Shannon Macken, “Biography,” paboo’k.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Heinz__Henry_John.html,2006.

3 Unknown, “H.J. Heinz,” Wikipedia, 2010.

4 Public Relations, “Heinz Company” Web page, 2010.

Her father suffered from tuberculoses and young Mary was put in charge of complex household tasks so her mother could work fourteen-hour days meagerly supporting the family. Mary remembered her mother coaching her over the telephone always saying “You can do it, you can do it.” ─ This was something Mary Kay Ash never forgot.³

As an adult, Ash proved early on she was good at sales, but often watched doors of opportunity slam while being passed over for male co-workers. In 1963, after a failed marriage, a demotion and struggles obtaining respect in a “man’s” workplace ─ she retired.

But she was restless in retirement and wanted to write a book helping women coming behind her succeed in the male workforce. As she thought over her career, she made two lists: one, positive things learned; two, things “that didn’t work.” Inadvertently she created a corporate marketing plan.

She had been playing with a skin product and now wanted to combine product and plan. However, advisors said her business maximums: “praising people to success,” and “running a corporation on the Golden Rule” while “taking care of women’s needs so they could achieve full-earning power” were laughable at best. At worst, they were a guaranteed failure.

Just days before launching the business, her second husband died. Now advisors emphatically coached her to abort her dealings. But her adult children, familiar with her tenacity, said, “You can do it.” So with sheer determination, her life savings, and help from her 21 year-old son, Mary Kay Inc. was born.

“In so doing, Ash formed the largest direct seller of skin care products in the U.S. and the best-selling brand of facial skin care and color cosmetics in the United States with over 500,000 independent beauty consultants in 29 markets worldwide. Mary Kay Inc. has been featured three times as one of The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America and its corporate structure and marketing plan are required reading for Harvard students.”¹

The company has made a reputation of recognizing top performers with pink Cadillacs and diamond studded bumble bees. (Sales people are awarded bumble bee pins, because scientists say in theory the bumble bee should not be able to fly ─ much like the company Ash founded.)

Ash was famous for paying tithe from the time her income was only $11 a week and as it built throughout her life.² Near the end of her life, Mary Kay Cosmetics also sponsored large funds to cancer research and domestic violence awareness. In a chapter of one of her three books, Ash testifies “One can never out give God” and cites a time when one of her land investments literally sprang oil after she pledged a certain amount to a religious cause.

Throughout her life, Ash believed employees would be better if they could operate their lives in this order: God first, family second, career third. One might say her critics watched her drive her “silly ideas” right on down to the bank –in a pink Cadillac!

Story by Cindy R. Chamberlin

Sources:

1. Unknown. Famous Texans, Web post 2010.
2. Unknown. American National Business Hall of Fame, Web site 2010.
3. Company writers. Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc. Home site, 2010.

(July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937)

Rockefeller’s childhood didn’t seem like the makings of  a billionaire. His father was somewhat of a vagabond, struggling financially, inventing fast money schemes and avoiding hard work. “Trade dishes for platters [always get the better part of any deal,]” was his motto and he bragged he even cheated his own children. He was also absent from the family a great deal, frequently uprooting his wife and six children about upstate New York ─ eventually settling in Cleveland, Ohio.

Yet “I was trained to work, to save, and to give,” said Rockefeller. This was likely due to his mother, a devout Baptist Christian, who provided stability and taught her children:  honesty, helping others and the art of thrift. She told them ─ “willful waste makes woeful want.”

Young Rockefeller was well-behaved, serious and studious. At sixteen he became an assistant bookkeeper for 50 cents a day. He loved bookkeeping and showed a fixation for honest business, the long hours, and exhausting details of bookkeeping from the start. At times he dreamed up new projects in his sleep. He “was methodical to an extreme, careful about details and exacting to a fault … If there was a cent due he wanted it. If there was a cent due a customer he wanted the customer to have it,” say historians. This irritated some colleagues, but ultimately won the confidence of fellow businessmen.¹ 

In June 1870, Rockefeller formed Standard Oil of Ohio. His success with the Standard Oil Company was largely due to three core beliefs: cut waste, produce the best product and offer the lowest price. Before this time, only the rich in America could afford to light their homes with whale oil and candles. Rockefeller saw himself as somewhat of a “savior,” delivering oil to light even the poor man’s home for one cent an hour. 

As a whole new method of lighting emerged for Americans, Rockefeller dominated the oil industry. Other refiners at the time, were wasteful and dumped gasoline into rivers, or threw out its byproducts. By contrast Rockefeller and his partners worked to get the most kerosene out of each barrel and searched for creative ways to use all the leftovers. In the process, they developed over 300 oil-based products including, paint, Vaseline and chewing gum. By 1880, Rockefeller had bought out most of his rivals at fair prices, made some of his chief competitors his partners, and was refining over 90 percent of U.S. oil.¹

 He tithed his very first paycheck and every one thereafter and he was known for both his enormous earning and his enormous giving. He and his advisors invented the conditional grant and organized his charities in ways that “defined much of the structure of modern philanthropy today.”²

 “I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week,” he once said. ¹

Sources:

1   Burton W. Folsom Jr., John D. “Rockefeller and the Oil Industry” post, Oct. 1988.
2   Writer pool. Wikipedia, “John D. Rockefeller” post, 2010.

Story by Cindy R. Chamberlin, 2010.

Testimony from a Friend …

We had just become engaged and had six months to save for a wedding. Nearly as soon as we became engaged, my fiancés work hours were cut from 40 to 32 a week. Simultaneously I read the scripture about give to “Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” I became convicted about gross tithe paying instead of net tithe paying, but I struggled psychologically because I thought it would be too big of a financial strain.

We wanted a nice wedding, however we felt convicted not to start off our marriage with debt. Therefore giving more tithe right then was a real test of faith. I prayed God would make our budget work; but it didn’t seem possible.

Unexpectedly, we received two large escrow checks in the mail. Additionally, we got to skip a month of mortgage for a refinance. The timing of the funds was perfect.

Other blessings followed. A wedding dress store was closing everything and I obtained my dream dress at approximately a fifth of the price. The dress had to be altered down three dress sizes. When it was done, the seamstress refused to charge me. Additionally my mother got a large sum unexpectedly and provided additional funds.  My family scheduled several work bees making beautiful stage, reception flowers and decorations.  The musician gave his services as a wedding gift. We were able to have a beautiful wedding, including a honeymoon to Maui without incurring debt and saved over $10,000 in six months because God opened his treasury flood gates on us. I did my budget and when finished it showed we had just enough money down to the dollar. When I realized this, I knew we had done the right thing. My husband’s hours are still down. But, even so, we are doing financially well. We continue to pay gross on every paycheck and God truly blessed.