The Gathering of the Eagles
THE STORY OF MENNO PAULS
PART ONE  :  Chapter Nine 
IT'S NO SHAME TO BE POOR, BUT IT'S NO GREAT HONOR EITHER!
- Tevye
When we got back from Europe we didn't have a cent. We spent what we had fulfilling the inspiration that we received. But there we were, staying at a motel in Richmond, near the Vancouver airport, wondering how we'd pay the bill at the end of the week.

We knew some people who had money, and who'd told us to come and see them if we needed a hand. I was thinking about taking them up on their offers, when I got a flash that said, "Be prepared for a surprise." Nothing more, just that!

Soon after, I contacted a friend of ours who wanted to talk to me. She was on a disability pension at the time. While we were talking in a restaurant, right out of the blue she says, "I've got a feeling I've got to give this to you. I just got a little inheritance from Ireland. It's not much, but it's two hundred and fifty dollars. It's for you. You need this for some reason."

I was astonished. She didn't know about our financial condition, and she was barely making it herself.

I was shocked. And I guess my ego was involved somewhat as well. How could I take her money? But the inspiration had warned me to be prepared for a shock. But I didn't want to accept it; that's a pretty humbling thing you know.

It's sort of like being on the street with a cup in your hand, and the rich folks that have the means pass you by, while the ones who barely scratch out enough for themselves are the ones contributing. It was all she had, and she was offering it to me.

"No, don't worry," she said. "you need it."

Well, she was right about that! I did take the money, and that's what got us going again during our first week back from Europe.
A year and a half later, at that same restaurant - at the same table in fact - the manager of the shoe store I referred to earlier in the book and I were having coffee, when all of a sudden he pulls out a cheque book and writes me a cheque for two hundred and fifty dollars.

"Hey, I've got a feeling I've got to do this," he said.

Usually money only comes like that when it's needed and I couldn't figure out why he was writing the cheque. Then it dawned on me. It was needed, but not by me. It was for the woman who'd helped us out of a jam earlier.

So I took the money to her, and she did need it at that time. She was crying, she was so surprised. Who says someone isn't keeping track?

PART ONE
Epilogue
Saturday, January 30, 2010
We are still on the case, Sharon, the boys and I. We live by spiritual guidance every day. Many times since we "stepped out into space" in January of 1978, we found ourselves in positions where we truly didn't know how our needs would be met, from the next meal to the next roof over our heads.

Everytime we found ourselves in that position though, something miraculous would occur, and we'd be okay for another period. Our needs would be met. Neither have we had to live in conditions of poverty.  It seems that we've had to walk the line but we've always been put on the right side of it. It's as if the Spirit of God wanted to lead us into situations where we couldn't humanly provide for ourselves, protect ourselves, fend for ourselves.
This has led to more than a few struggles within, as well as between, ourselves. We live in a very materialistic and security conscious society where it's what you have, what you can get and how, or who, you are that counts.

Many of the values of what you become in service to others, and what you give rather than what you take from life, have been lost. Not for long I expect.

Our struggle is between the lower self and the higher Self, and it's a struggle waged in the mind, not at the office, or at the bank, or with the bill collector. It's as if the spirit within is speaking to us saying, "Just because it appears that you are helpless, doesn't mean that the situation is hopeless."
The lessons learned by us to reveal to others, such as you, are lessons of positivity, the value of the good thought, the good word, or the positive action, instead of the bad or the negative.

The lesson of acceptance, the loss of the almost innate human necessity to judge others in our terms, when we can only judge ourselves by our terms. And most of all, the lesson of Faith. Having the faith to do what's required, and knowing that in doing the job, the material needs will be met. It's perhaps the hardest lesson to learn, and even harder to live. But these last ten years have given rise to ever-increasing levels of Faith.


Go to: PART TWO : Chapter Ten : FOR THE HARVEST OF THE EARTH IS RIPE
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