Precious and valuable in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

On Thanksgiving day, my brother Jake was up in a ‘man lift’ trimming the tall pine trees on his property. (That’s a basket at the end of a 30 foot boom that can be controlled from within the basket or from the ground)

We don’t know exactly what happened, but the whole rig slipped off the embankment and tipped over. The basket hit a pine tree and Jake may have been thrown out at that time. There were rocks on the ground near where he was laying, and he may have hit his head on one of those.

I got the call and it fell my lot to tell my mom and all his ten brothers and sisters what had happened. Out of all our siblings, Jake was the first to go. That’s not the easiest news to take.

Before I called anyone though, I simply sat at my desk trying to take it all in. The five reactions to unwanted bad news are: Denial, bargaining, anger, grieving and acceptance.

The Serenity Prayer says:

“Lord, help me accept the things

I cannot change,

to change the things I can,

and give me the wisdom

to know the difference.”

Well, I had already been through those steps when our 17 year old son drowned. But, in that case, I added a sixth step of my own. I asked God to create good results from my son’s death….lots and lots of them. Year after year, I’ve watched God turn those prayers into reality. The ‘good’ that God added to the bad gave the whole event some redeeming value.

Literally thousands have been blessed as a result of our son’s death. How can we continue to call it a bad thing?

Anyway, as I sat there trying to absorb the shock of Jake’s death, I immediately began to pray. “God, I’m asking you to create a mountain of good out of this molehill of misery.”

That prayer has been with me ever since and it’s not going to go away. Whenever I think of Jake and start to have negative reactions, I simply substitute that prayer instead.

I cannot waste the death of my brother. I loved him. It’s my privilege to help create a ‘good purpose’ out of that which seems to be a calamity.

God has given us the ‘winning combination’ of ‘Love and Faith’ to be used liberally and generously in this life.

Faith works by love. There is no sin in loving someone deeply. But, when the object of our love is gone, then, it’s up to faith to make that absence worthwhile. If we love God and have faith in Him, we should be able to turn every tragedy into a triumph.

No, we can’t do it all by ourselves—but we can be part of the whole process. If God can make all things work together for good then why shouldn’t His children be able to get in on the act? Is it so wrong to try to walk in our Father’s footsteps?

But, no one can keep from thinking about the negative aspects of death and how it’s going to affect the living. I’m no exception. I knew that Jake had poured many thousands and thousands of dollars into the kingdom of God. Most of it was in the form of support and provisions for missionaries around the world.

You see, we had all been born into a missionary family. Our folks had been missionaries to China, Tibet, Africa and other nations of the world. My dad had continually declared that all of his children would be preachers or preacher’s wives. That has panned out for 8 of the eleven so far.

But, I will forever remember the day Jake said, “I’m not going to be a preacher.” Boy, did my dad ever hit the ceiling.

But, Jake held to his guns and insisted that ‘ministry’ wasn’t for him. That’s when my dad asked, “What do you think you’re going to do if you don’t preach?” Jake calmly responded, “Get a trade or something.” I can still hear my dad saying, “Get a trade or something? Get a trade?” And then he went on to belittle the aspirations that Jake had in mind.

True to his word, Jake got a trade and went into the construction business while most of his siblings were serving God in ministry. Many became missionaries and thus we became known as a ‘missionary family’.

God gave Jake a sense of purpose and a ‘green light’ to go ahead and make money. Jake then used that money to fund and finance the Kingdom of God in many different ways. It was indeed a calling of God upon His life.

So, when I thought about him not being around anymore, I immediately thought of all the ministries which had counted on his support. What would happen to them now?

That’s when ’faith’ jumped in to compliment ’love’. It didn’t have to ’all be over’ just because Jake died. Just because one kernel of corn is buried in the ground, does not mean that it can’t be used for food anymore. In that death, one kernel becomes three ears of corn. Each ear may contain over 300 kernels. I know! I counted them once. That means one kernel that dies can become a thousand. This is God’s multiplication table of life!

In God’s economy, one man’s death should result in ’blessings for thousands’. That made sense to me, so I dared to ask God to let Jake’s death be the ’kick off’ point that would cause an extra ’hundred million dollars’ to be given to finance the work of the Kingdom in the earth.

A ’hundred million’? The amount staggered me for just a moment, but then the certainty of what I wanted reasserted itself. The sense of absurdity which tried to get into my mind was dispelled immediately. God Himself had asked, “Is there anything too hard for me?” Jesus had declared, “With God, all things are possible!” Jesus even went one step further when He said, “All things are possible to him who believes.” From the first moment that I rejected doubt and vetoed it’s intention of getting into my life, I firmly believed that God is going to answer that prayer.

In the beginning, I said, “God, I don’t know how you are going to do it, but I know what I’ve asked for and I know you can do it.” I went on to say, “You can do it any way you want to. You can raise up a hundred millionaires to give a million dollars apiece or a million people to give a hundred dollars apiece. I don’t have to be a part of the process at all and You don’t even have to let me know how You do it—but from this moment I am believing that You are going to literally do it.” And I now thank Him for doing it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a done deal.

Somewhere along the way, a little thought said: “You’d better not tell anyone what kind of prayer you’ve prayed. They’ll think you are nuts. They won’t have the faith to believe that it can really happen.” But, the Word of the Lord to me was,

“The unbelief of many cannot make void the faith of one!”

To evangelize the world in this generation, God must thrust thousands of new missionaries into the harvest field. It will take greater and greater amounts of money to finance all the projects that need to get underway. The amount that I asked for is miniscule in comparison with the needs.

I was not out of line to ask for a hundred millions dollars for the sake of the Kingdom. I am merely being lifted into God’s way of looking at things. But, I also have the responsibility to spread the vision to others.

After I came back from the funeral, my wife must have sensed some discouragement in me or something, because she said, “Remember, Jake died, not God!” And I knew then, that the progression of the Kingdom of God was not going to stop or even slack off because Jake wasn’t around to give more money to missions. The work of God has to not only ‘go on’, but it must increase daily. The cost of that work is going to continually increase, therefore, the financial flow must increase.

Nope! I’m not out of line! The needs are great all around the world and God has imparted His faith into me to believe that those needs are going to be met. He is merely allowing me to link that faith together with my brother’s death so that we may all know that any death can become a catalyst for good in the earth.

When Jake first went into business, he knew that God was going to provide for him, but he also knew God was going to make him a ‘provider’. He named one of his companies, “Jireh Development Corporation”. Jireh comes from one of the names of God, “Jehovah Jireh” which means, “God will provide”.

Since it was only Jake that died and not God, I knew “the Jireh principle” had to go on. And that’s when Jireh ideas started flooding my mind. I knew we could start a memorial fund, in memory of Jake, but in honor of Jehovah Jireh.

But, Jake was not the only pebble on the beach. People are dying everyday. I know that many people would like to create good results out of their loss and their grief. I knew they would want to know that their loved one had not died in vain. But, most people don’t want to go to the trouble to start a memorial fund. They don’t want the hassle of handling the money, writing out receipts and being held accountable for the disbursements.

I could see it so clearly,

The kickoff punch could be in memory of Jake—but the perpetual flow would be in memory of many, many loved ones. I could see a thousand church bulletins saying, “The family of the deceased asks that you not spend your money on flowers, but request instead that you make a contribution to “Jireh Memorials”

I must be honest, I had some doubts about whether I’m supposed to help God out. But, the confirmations kept coming my way. Finally, twenty-one days after Jake died, I walked into a business office where we have a weekly luncheon and teaching session. The owner gave me an envelope that said: “In memory of your brother, Jake.” The staff had taken up an offering among themselves, so we now have the first hundred dollars of the hundred million. All we need is a million more hundred dollar bills to reach our goal and go over the top. Is it possible? It’s happening!

I know it’s a long journey from vision to victory, but I’m ready for the journey. I remain undaunted. All I have to do is ‘put one foot in front of the other’, taking one step at a time.

If you make a contribution and want it to be used to help prisoners, drug addicts, alcoholics, unwed mothers, or abortion prevention, simply make mention of that in your letter. If you want us to use it to get more bibles into China or to sponsor native evangelists in Russia, just make your desires known. As much as possible, we will comply with your requests.

We are in the process of meeting with lawyers, tax consultants and others to make sure that we don’t neglect any pertinent area while this new ministry is being formed. If you have any questions or want more details of the operation, feel free to call us at (830) 966-2494.

If you are ready to make a contribution, please send it to:

Jireh Memorials
P.O. Box 29-777
Kerrville, TX  78029

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