“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart,
so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: forGod loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to
make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always
having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to
every good works:”
—2 Corinthians 9:7–8
Ever since we had first heard Brother
Lester Roloff preach and share about his work,we had wanted to go to Corpus Christi, Texas, and
stay a month to help in his ministry. It was now
June of 1981, and although we had to be back at the
mision board for orientation in August, we decided
to go help Brother Roloff. We had prayed about the
trip, and we believed the Lord wanted us to go, but
we had no money. The Suburban needed tires, the
travel trailer needed tires, and the plumbing in the
trailer needed repairs. Much was needed to be provided
if we were to make the trip.
It just so happened that my dad was a plumber.
He fixed the plumbing in the trailer and put new
tires on it, and we were praising the Lord for that.
A few days passed and then Dad observed, “It looks
like your Suburban needs tires.”
“Yes, Dad, and we’re praying that the Lord will
supply that need,” I answered.….Dad replied, “Take
the Suburban down to Sears and have them put new
tires on it, and I will pay for them.” Rejoicing, I
did what he said, and the bill was approximately six
hundred dollars, a considerable amount of money in
1981. I had not known that my dad had that much
money to spare, but we praised the Lord that He had
again used my dad to supply our need.
I had consulted with our pastor about the trip,
and he agreed we should go. As our needs were met
one by one, everything fell into place for the trip to
Brother Roloff’s—everything, that is, except for the
funds. It was now down to the wire. We set the date
for departure even as we continued to pray for the
necessary funds.
Soon it was our last night at Woodland Baptist
Church before our departure date, and we continued
praying and waiting. Our pastor preached a
great message. An invitation was given and the last
prayer was prayed. The pastor dismissed the service
but then suddenly said, “Wait a minute. We have
missionaries going down to Brother Roloff’s for
a month to help, and they need some funds to get
there. Let us take up a love offering for them.”
What a relief! All my stress and fears just melted
away, and I praised the Lord for His provision. They
handed us a brown paper bag full of money, and it
amounted to eight hundred dollars! God is so good,
isn’t He?
With our last need met, we headed toward Corpus
Christi, and what a great trip it was! At night, we
slept in our trailer at rest areas, since campgrounds
were hard to find and too far off the main route.
Going through Atlanta, Georgia, was a challenge
because of the heavy traffic and speeding cars. In
Houston, Texas, We had a frightening experience
like never before.
We were driving along beside a cement truck
when suddenly there was a loud boom as the cement
truck blew a tire. Our windows were down because
of the heat, and rubber from the tire started flying
everywhere, even into our vehicle. Needless to say,
that woke us up, but nothing was damaged except
our already strained nerves, It’s not easy driving a
Suburban while pulling a twenty-seven–foot travel
trailer in traffic that seems to be going 90 miles per
hour in a 55 miles–per-hour zone!
Finally, we arrived at Brother Roloff’s and
parked our travel trailer. The very next day I was
ready to go to work. My job was to help two other
men put a roof on a house. It was hot enough to fry
an egg on that roof, and I wasn’t accustomed to such
heat. I went home for lunch, and there I stayed for
three days, sick, overheated, and perhaps suffering
from a slight heatstroke.
After recovering, we was assigned to do some
cleaning up. Suddenly the man I was working with
started screaming; I quickly ran to see what was
happening. There were red ants everywhere, and
they were biting his hands and arms. We brushed
them off, but he started swelling. He was allergic to
the ants and had to be rushed to the hospital. A few
more minutes and he would have been dead.
Brother Roloff had a church, and we attended
every service. We heard some great preaching from
the Word of God. As the month of July drew to a
close, it was time for us to return to Chattanooga for
orientation at the mission board. But all our money
had disappeared, and once again, we were in need
of funds. The last service before we were to leave.
Brother Roloff announced he was going to host a
first-time workers’ supper at his cabin by the water.
I turned to my wife and commented, “Honey, that
sounds good to me. You want to go?”
The next evening we boarded the bus, eagerly
anticipating fresh fish, hushpuppies, and coleslaw.
The food was delicious, the fellowship was sweet,
and Brother Roloff’s preaching was great. After the
meal, all the newcomers, including me, shared a testimony.
Brother Roloff preached and then asked if
anyone had anything to add. No one responded, so
he closed with a word of prayer. A holy hush seemed
to fall over the entire room, and no one said a word
for a long time. Then a man in the back spoke up
and said, “There is a missionary family leaving
tomorrow to go back to their mission board for orientation,
They do not have the funds for the trip.”
Brother Roloff quickly responded, “We need to
do something about that. I will give two hundred
dollars out of the general fund. Everyone else give
whatever the Lord lays upon your.”
We, of course, were those missionaries, we
praised the Lord for helping us again. That night
seven hundred dollars was collected for us. The next
day we headed back to Chattanooga. Our hearts
overflowing with praise, we thanked the Lord for
all the needs He had supplied, as well as the privilege
He had given, in allowing us to visit the Roloff
ministries and help one of the greatest men of God
we had ever known.
Little is much when God is in it!
(Copyright by Jay B Ayers)
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