Three years ago my dad was diagnosed with cancer. Over the last three years we as a family have taken every opportunity to be together because we didnt know if it would be our last. On one such occasion the topic of inheritance came up. There was going to be no financial inheritance. This was not a surprise to any of us, dad had as we like to say in basketball, “left it all on the court.” I reassured him that he had already given me my inheritance and it was so valuable I didn’t need anything else.

You see, my Dad lived an Ebenezer life. No, not an Ebenezer Scrooge humbug life, an Ebenezer life. Ebenezer is a word that means, “this far God has helped us”. It comes from a story in the book of first Samuel. The Philistines has taken the ark of the covenant but found out that this God, as opposed to their own, was real. Their idols kept falling over, mice ate their food and tumors broke out on everyone. So, getting the gist, they sent the Ark back to Israel. Samuel called everyone together to worship because God had delivered the Ark back to them. While they were gathered, the Philistines, still a little worked up by the deal came and attacked. When the Israelites called out in fear God sent thunder and confused the enemy and Israel won the battle. It was so clear that God had fought for the people of Israel that Samuel setup a stone, named the place Ebenezer and declared, “Thus far the Lord has helped us”

The stone was a reminder of God’s provision. As people walked past it they would tell the story of the Ark’s return and of the battle that the Lord won for them.

Dad’s life was full of Ebenezer moments. Times when it was so clear that God had helped that there could be no doubt. In fact it happened so much that, like Samuel placing the rock, my parents would take a little token and put it in a box, called our Ebenezer box, and would declare God’s clear help. We as kids would go though the box and hold up each token, maybe a toy school bus or a pair of scissors. Then mom and dad would tell us again the stories of how God had helped our family. Over and over the stories were repeated and the treasures in the box grew.

Many of these stories were before my time, me being the late bloomer and all. But because of the Ebenezer box I knew the history of God’s provision for our family like I had lived it. Like the time we didnt have the money to go on our yearly week long camping trip. Dad said we would go, trusting Gods provision and come back if what little money we had ran out. On the way out mom asked to check the mailbox, on a Sunday, and in the mailbox was $700. Plenty of money for the trip.

Or the time we did have money for school supplies for our family and Mom and Dad prayed that God would provide. They found an envelope in a door jam with the exact amount of money they needed to purchase school supplies for my brothers.

One time they need money for an extended family Christmas dinner we were hosting. Davey was asking what they were going to do. Mom encouraged him to pray for it. How much do we need he asked? $200 mom replied. Ill pray for $300 he said. A few days later $300 came in the mail. Postmarked to the date Davey prayed for it.

Not all of God’s provisions were financial, although there plenty more of those. Sometime God just liked to show us that he was looking out for us.

There was the time that Dad was lost looking for the gym where my brother was playing college basketball game. Dad picked a car and said we would follow them because they, “looked like they were going to a basketball game” Many twists and turns later we arrived at the game.

There was a time when we were out in the middle of the desert and Dad got two flat tires at the same time. A few minutes after we stopped a Navajo man came in a truck and took dad to his house just a few min away. He had the exact size of tire we needed at his house.

Not every prayer is answered on our time tables. For 35 years my dad has prayed that God would raise up Navajo workers to begin to take over the work at the mission. God has been fulfilling that prayer and, like Moses glimpsing the promise land, Dad got to see the beginning of that prayer being answered.

The final things in the Ebenezer box are 4 tokens. One for each child. Each representing the time we ourselves reached out to God in faith, accepting the blood of Jesus as our atonement. If you ask Dad and Mom, these were the most valuable tokens in the box. These were the answers to the most fervent of their prayers.

Over my lifetime I have had people who I care about turned their back on the Lord, close friends who no longer want anything to do with God. This is why I declared my dad’s inheritance to be the most valuable of all things he could have given me. He gave me a faith rooted not just in words, theory and feelings but in the true experience of God’s love and provision. The present world makes it easy to rationalize away God’s existence but for me to deny God’s existence would be to deny the things I’ve seen with my own eyes.

Dad’s Ebenezer life was not just an example for me and my family. You too can go and do likewise. Follow his example and find the ways God has worked in your life. Setup your own rock. Point your family to it and declare the Lord’s help and provision. Ask God for things and dont be silent when he provides.