Faith That Doesn’t Quit

It was the late 90’s. A friend had requested I work out of his new company, and he gave me an office to entice me. He needed bodies to give the appearance that his company was growing and thriving. I was not on the payroll, rather a freelancer, but if I spent time there in his office space, it was good for the company and, he thought, good for me.

One morning I was sitting in my office overlooking Washington Avenue in the warehouse district of Minneapolis. The Lord suddenly broke into my thoughts.

“George, are you going to do what I asked you to do, or not?

Suddenly, I was alert. I knew exactly what God was talking about, and now I was hedging. To do what He was asking me would take a giant leap of faith. I was thinking about playing it safe. I didn’t want to leap!

When our faith is challenged, the human side of us usually wants to play it safe . . . to go another direction.

Then, another scenario played out before me. I was standing at the judgment seat of Christ, and He was asking me, “George, why didn’t you do what I asked you to do?”

Ughhh! I didn’t like this scene. How could I be here, not having done what He asked me to do?

Well, everyone misses opportunities in life. God gives us a task to do, and we balk. Too scary! Too risky! But I didn’t want to be a member of this crowd!

A friend who ran a youth ministry had, at a lunch engagement, informed me that discussion starter videos were needed for students wanting to start Bible clubs in schools. God had distinctly nudged me at the time. I knew this was something He wanted me to do.

There was one big problem. It would take at least a month to complete the first one, and during that time there would be no income from the project. How would I pay my bills?”

I rolled this around in my head for some time, sitting there in my office. Then, I said to the Lord, “All right, Lord. I’ll do this, but I don’t know how I am going to pay the bills?”

So, I embarked on the project. the footage had already been shot. Now, it was creating a paper edit, picking footage, logging time codes, assembling the four five-minute segments on paper in preparation for the actual assembling in an editing studio, creating the final product.

Okay! In obedience to the Lord, I began hours of pouring through footage, putting it all together.

But there was still the matter of paying the bills . . .

Then there was a phone call from Joel, my friend who owned the business overlooking Washington Avenue.

“We have a small video project for a fire hydrant company out of Birmingham, Alabama. Could you put a proposal together?”

I would make about $1000. It wouldn’t cover the month, but it would help.

This little project started to grow. From one small video, it suddenly became five, covering five different fire hydrant models.

There was another phone call from Joel. “I want to do something out of the ordinary,” he was saying, “not the same old tired video stuff. Think of something special we can do.”

Well, the video was to demonstrate all the parts of five fire hydrants, then their installation in the ground. The videos were to play on a computer and be interactive with the viewer. This was a totally new concept at the time and Joel wanted to be on the cutting edge.

The next call moved things along further. “We will have to build a stage in the studio representing the ground and showing the part of the hydrant that resides underground,” Joel said, and he gave me the number of a guy who could build the stage.

Then, there was the exciting, out of the ordinary element Joel wanted. I suggested using a Jimmy Jib, a twelve-foot arm on which the camera was installed. The result was long sweeping shots you might see on the best video productions. He liked the idea.

“Can you write the script,” Joel asked?

“Yeah sure.” After all, I needed the money. The script turned out to be five segments, each five minutes long . . . about 25 minutes of script. This would take a while.

Finally, everything was set up. The stage was built, a two man crew with the Jimmy Jib was scheduled, and two “big shots” flew into town from American Flow Control, the hydrant company in Alabama.

The day they arrived at Joel’s company, I was still writing script. On top of that, I had contracted the flu and was “sick as a dog!” No one else could produce the project, so I had to push through and perform, even though I felt like I was going to throw up at any moment.

I neared the end of the script as the video crew was setting up. Bruce, the head guy from American Flow Control, liked it. He was also quite impressed that I was pushing through, even though I was “as sick as a dog,” as he said.

We began shooting, only to run into a major problem. The part of the hydrants that resides underground was black, and the video camera could not pick up the detail because of the glare. We stopped the shoot and a couple crew members began painting the bottom part of the five hydrants blue. That set us back a day.

The following five days we shot video in the hot, stuffy studio. My flu passed after three days. It was the shoot from hell, but the footage was quite amazing . . . and the clients were happy.

After the shoot, Bruce and his associate flew home . . . and I spent the next several days editing the first video.

We sent it down to Bruce and he was quite amazed. The content was very technical, and he didn’t think I could master it, but I did. “You guys must really know your hydrants,” he said to me over the phone. “There were only three small mistakes in the entire video!”

The client was happy. Joel was happy. The little video project had morphed into the largest project I had ever tackled . . . and I made $10,000, the most I had ever made on a video production.

I had jumped off the cliff. I had told God I would do the discussion starter video, but I didn’t know how I would pay my bills while I was doing it.

There was one catch. When the project was completed, Joel announced to me that the company was going through a tough patch, and he wouldn’t be able to pay me for a while.

Ouch! That stinks!

But God was ahead of us on that part, too. Sandy was in charge of cutting the checks for the company. A couple months earlier, she had come to me looking for a job, I had introduced her to Joel, and he had hired her. For the next five months, each month she cut me a check, unbeknown to Joel, for $2000, enough to pay my bills while I was working on God’s project. He took care of the money thing . . . real good!

When God asks you to do something, do it! It is just that simple. You do your part, and He’ll do His part. That is what is meant by “faith that doesn’t quit!”

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Galatians 6:9 (NKJV)

Maneuvering Our Faith Walk

In June Lorraine and I experienced the same kind of challenges you just read about. Contributions fell off as they usually do at the beginning of summer and I was asking God, “How are we going to pay our operating expenses?”

Then I got a call from a friend in Minneapolis who needed 13 large diseased trees removed from his yard and his neighbor’s. A call from Waskish came at the same time. The minister had gone on vacation and “could we do the services?”

For three weeks our lives became an intense work schedule. We would drive the five hours to Minneapolis on Wednesday, remove trees on Thursday and Friday, drive five hours to Waskish on Saturday where we would prepare two musical numbers late in the evening, and do the service on Sunday Morning. On Monday we would drive three and a half hours back home, try to recover on Tuesday, and then again travel to Minneapolis on Wednesday to start the cycle all over again.

Are You Being Fed?

By Lorraine

Each month we send out about 275 Newsletters by USPS to individual homes. Each month we post our newsletter and other article on this website. ALL these things cost money every month.

Currently we have a 1000 copies of the book that George has written at the printer waiting to be paid for. They have been waiting for payment for seven weeks and we are still looking for funds to pay for the printing. Once we pay for the books then we need envelopes and postage stamps. ALL of this costs money beyond our monthly operating expenses.

The list goes on. The bottom line is it costs money to run our ministry. If you are reading this on the world wide web and are blessed by the articles that we post, there is no time like the present to make a contribution.

Please do not think that someone else will make the contribution because I can promise you those “other people” think “you” are going to make a contribution. As a result “no one” makes a contribution.

If you think someone else will make the contributions to keep our ministry in operation and you can keep enjoying the articles, then it is the same as thinking that someone else will pay for your spiritual meal.

If you are “spiritually fed” by our ministry please take it upon yourself to make your contribution for your blessing.

Our biggest need in our ministry is consistent monthly givers.

Please think about the value and impact our ministry has had on your life. Thank you for your financial support.

Luke 6:38 (ESV)

Give, and it will be given to you.

Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.

For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

In His Service,

George and Lorraine Halama

All contributions are tax deductible

Photo designed and taken by Lorraine