Why We Need to Give Differently

I’m Andy Yoon. This is my wife, Melissa Yoon.

Introducing Andy And Melissa Yoon

We met in college at University of Florida, and we have been married for…

16 years.

16 years.

It’s really funny, because when we first met, I remember telling Mel I was going to buy her a Ferrari.

I even have a contract.

Yeah. I wrote it down. I’m like, “I’m going to buy you a Ferrari when I graduate from graduate school.”

The exact age was 28. I was supposed to have one when I was 28. I’m older than 28 now.

Yeah, she’s-

And I don’t have a Ferrari.

Nope. Nope, not yet. Probably never.

Probably not. Maybe a toy one. But I think our dreams when we first got married-

Oh, a house on the ocean.

Were just the typical American dream type things. Houses, cars, money, all the standard things that you would want when you’re in your early twenties.

But the problem was in 2014-ish, the office crashed. And I’m realizing we’re super stressed out, because we’re worried about the dollar. No one was happy.

2014 was just a year where it seemed like nothing was really going right with the business. No one was truly happy.

The kids took it… yeah.

I think everyone was stressed out, and Andy specifically was really stressed out. We decided once we had read the book, Radical, there were just some things in the book that really stood out to us. I always say that when you read a book like Radical, the thing that you are struggling most with will stick out. And for both of us, it was money. In Matthew, it says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” and that was us. Our treasure was money, the American dream, having all the things, all this stuff. We were Christians, we were going to church, we were doing all the things, we were tithing, but still we were putting our emphasis on money and the dream.

I drive 30 minutes to work every day, and during this 30 minutes I would listen to a sermon or a book. On this day, I was just in prayer. And I was asking God in particular, I want to be completely vulnerable. Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do. And that’s a really, really hard place to be.

It’s a scary place to be.

Listening To God’s Call

It’s a very scary place to be, because sometimes you don’t want to hear what God tells you. But if you want to know the truth, that’s what you do. And so on this way to work, that’s exactly what I did. And the question I got asked was, Andy, what have you done with what I’ve given you? And it was so loud and clear. I don’t hear His voice that clearly, but that’s exactly what I heard. And so, automatically I’m thinking, you know what? You’re right. I need to give more than I’m taking in. The tricky part is we’re a pair, and so I can’t just be one-sided here.

I’m still waiting on my Ferrari at this point. No.

I call Mel and I said, “Hey honey, I’ve just been praying, and I really feel compelled to give more than we take.” And I’m just anxiously waiting.

And I said, “So funny. I agree. I think we should.”

Yeah. And we always say, whenever we’re on the same page, especially spiritually on something, that usually means we’re on the right track. We have a pretty good track record of that.

One of the things that I think that we have tried to be more intentional about in the past couple of years, is supporting people and organizations that specifically reach the unreached people groups of the world, rather than sending more resources to where people are already reached. When you’re trying to reach unreached people groups, you have to understand that it’s not going to look the same as sending a missionary to Central America, where you can get reports back, and you can see people’s faces and the work that’s being done. In some respects, it feels like you’re doing more when you can see what you’re doing.

Whereas with unreached people groups, you’re not necessarily going to know exactly what’s going on. You’re not always going to see someone come to know Jesus, or be able to know their name, or their face, or their story. I think that for us, we’ve really had to understand that maybe there will only be one. Maybe there will be a handful. It’s not going to look the same as traditional missions that, I think that we’re used to in the US Church.

I would hope that if we were one of the areas of the unreached, like this remote village that has no access to the gospel, whether it’s a mountain, or just even governmental authority, I would hope that someone out there with the means would be able to come reach us, teach my children, hey, this is who Jesus is. This is what the gospel is. And I would be forever grateful for that, and hopefully we’d meet in heaven one day.

Giving Differently Teaches Us To Shift Our Desires

 

After making that commitment to give more than we keep, I think it’s just taught us that we don’t need the things that we thought we needed. It’s not that we don’t still desire things. I think we definitely still desire things. We just know they’re not worth it. They’re not going to fulfill the ultimate goal, the thing that we really desire our lives to be about, which is spreading the gospel. And so, sure, who doesn’t want a nice car, or a boat, or whatever the thing is? But the reality is, is that it’s not going to satisfy us. It’s not going to fulfill us. And I think now looking back, it seems silly to want a Ferrari. That’s crazy. It’s two-seater, we’ve got kids. That’s silly.