Chapter 50 - The Hundredfold Blessing

“The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that

watereth shall be watered also himself.”

—Proverbs 11:25

The sun was shining brightly in Jacksonville,

Florida. The water was smooth like glass and
as beautiful as the morning sky as we drove across
the Buckman Bridge. My wife and I were running
errands before we left for a meeting in Alabama.
After doing some business in Orange Park, we
headed toward the Avenue Mall, where we did
some more business, and then looked for a place
to eat lunch. Seeing a $3.99 lunch special at Steak
’n Shake, we entered and ordered a Steakburger,
french fries, and Coke.
    The waitress brought our order, and as we were
enjoying our food, a family of three sat down at a
booth across from us. While continuing enjoying
my lunch, the Lord impressed upon my heart to pay
for that family’s food. I tried to brush the thought
aside, but the impression came back stronger than
before.
    Lord, you know we do not have much money,
and we have to make this trip to Alabama to present
our ministry to Belize, I silently protested.
    We finished our meal and headed for the cashier.
The impression still remaining, I asked the waitress
for the check of the family sitting near us. She
asked, “Why? Do you know those people?”
    I replied, “No, but the Lord has impressed upon
me to pay for their meal.”
    She looked rather shocked and commented,
“Boy, I wish someone would pay for my meal.”
    We paid our bill, which was not much, and then
we paid for theirs, which totaled twenty-three dollars.
We left without telling them anything, and the
Lord assured me that He would bless us for doing
what He had asked. I thanked the Lord and went
about our business.
    The next morning, Saturday, we headed for Mount Pleasant
Baptist Church in Blountsville, Alabama. We arrived
at our motel and had a good night’s rest. Sunday
morning dawned, and we were off to church. A
deacon helped us set up the equipment to show
our DVD of the work in Belize. The pastor soon
arrived, we greeted one another, and at ten o’clock
the Sunday School hour began. We showed our
DVD and then had a Question-and-Answer time.
    After a break, the morning worship service began
with a prayer by the pastor. This was followed by
congregational singing and the collection of tithes
and offerings. Now it was my turn to preach. I
preached a short sermon, using some of my own
personal experiences as illustrations, gave an invitation,
and turned the service back to the pastor.
    Then the pastor announced that a love offering
was going to be taken up for us, after which we
were invited to go to the entrance to receive the
right hand of fellowship from the people. A lady at
the end of the greeting line shook my wife’s right
hand and with her left hand gave Linda a check.
Linda thanked her, and the lady said it was not
much but would perhaps help us on our journey for
the Lord. Then the pastor gave me a check for the
love offering. I thanked him for letting us come. We
said our good-byes.
    We packed up the van and decided to look at the
checks. Linda unfolded the check from the lady; it
was for a thousand dollars! Excited and amazed, I
said, “that surely will help us on our journey for the
Lord.” I looked at the check the pastor had given,
and it was for thirteen hundred dollars. “Wow!
What a great love offering from this church!” I
exclaimed to my wife of thirty-seven years. The
Lord reminded me that this was the blessing He was
talking about when we paid for the family’s lunch
two days earlier. I will trade twenty-three dollars for
twenty-three hundred dollars any day of the week!
Wouldn’t you? What a mighty God we serve!

(Copyright by Jay B Ayers)