What a great cow story Deb shared with you!
I'd like to share a little
history about how all this came to be. My name's Tempe McFarlane, and
my husband Tim and I have been involved with Feeding God's Children
for the past eight years. About 3 years ago we got a phone call from
George, a feller in our congregation. George is a cowboy living out by
Murphy and raises a few cows each year for his own family of seven.
George said he had been mighty blessed by the Lord that particular
year and wanted to pass on the blessing by giving one of his cows for
us to butcher and feed the beef to the homeless.
Tim and I drove to Murphy,
picked up the cow, and took it to pasture. A month later we hauled it
to the processing plant, paid the butcher and processing fees and
hauled the packaged hamburger to the walk-in freezer at the Vineyard
Barnabas Center. For the next three weeks, that meat was handed out in
food boxes at the food Pantry and also cooked up on the barbecue grill
at Julia Davis Park to feed the homeless that come hungry every Sunday
afternoon.
Well, George was so happy that
he could help feed the hungry by donating a cow, he started telling
his rancher friends about it. Within 3-4 months, we received a call
that 12 cows were being given to Feeding God's Children ministry to
help feed the homeless. WOW! Now that's a lot of beef! This was enough
beef to supply the Barnabas Ministries for 6-9 months. What a huge
blessing!
Then the reality hit me. We
would need $1,500.00 to process all this beef. I had no idea where
will the money come from. This one bill was more than three times the
monthly budget for Feeding God's Children.
I picked up the phone and
started calling, asking every butcher in town if they would be willing
to give us a great discount in their beef processing fees. I explained
the story.....that we were blessed with this huge and wonderful
donation, but didn't have the funds for the large processing fees for
that many cattle. I called, and called, and called. I was told "no,
sorry" more times that one should hear in a lifetime. After I had
exhausted every "small ranch" type processing plant, Tim suggested I
contact some "commercial" processors. I did and again I encountered
those familiar words, "No, sorry".
Then I felt this tugging on my
heart. It was God saying, "Talk to me about this, Tempe". So I did. I
stopped and prayed. I said "God, you've blessed us with all these
cows. Would you now please bless us with the inexpensive processing to
go along with it? You say that all things are possible with you God,
so could you make this work....for Your glory."
I picked up the telephone to
contact the last commercial processor listed in the yellow pages. The
lady on the other end said, "Sorry, we only do commercial processing"
- those all too familiar words.
After some persistence (and
continuing my serious talk with God while I was on hold!) she finally
connected me with the manager. He was willing to listen to the story
and was touched. God moved in his heart and gave him a love for the
homeless. It was sweet. He said, "Here's the scoop. I'll butcher and
process the beef for free, and I'll contact my buddy down the street
and tell him he has to make the paddy's for free." FOR FREE !!! Wow, I
was thinking discount, and this guy's offering to do it all for FREE.
Maybe if only I would have prayed first, maybe I wouldn't have had to
hear all those "Ño's"!
Then again, God's timing is so
perfect. He orchestrates all things. He must have wanted this man, at
this exact time, to be a part of this big, beautiful blessing. God
quite often is working behind the scene on the lives of the people we
are interacting with. What may seem like a blessing to us, is really a
blessing to many, many others.
Well, that story took place a
couple of years ago, and just this week we picked up another pallet of
beef, again from ranchers donating a dozen cattle. That wasn't the
first or the second, but the third time we've been given 12 head of
cattle. And it is the third time it's been processed for free from the
same processing plant.
Just one more thing - there's
also a moral to this story. Through God's provision, one person got
this thing rolling. One person had to step out in faith. You too can
be that person. Yes, God will use little ole you. Press on, be
willing, and see what God will do. I'm pretty sure He will amaze you!
