The Billboard Project - Part 2 (of 4)
November 2012
Billboard Research
Since the call to preach the Gospel on a billboard took place, I had been hunting high and low of how I could make this happen. I researched into billboard companies in my area only to find that the costs were enormous. A typical billboard of 6 x 3 meters in the city centre would set me back $5,000 a month, whereas a much larger billboard in the airport area could cost up to $35,000 a month. Yes, the costs quoted were for per month. It's overwhelmingly expensive! The money that was pledged to me by my friend (see The Billboard Project - Part 1) was only $1,600 which just wasn't enough.
After looking into other options that billboard companies offer, I discovered that advertising on buses was within budget! Excited by this possibility, I contacted the billboard company to see if I could proceed with this. Unfortunately, after considering the image (of Jesus) to be displayed, the bus companies declined, saying that they did not want "anything religious" on their buses. Other venues that I researched into came to no avail. There just wasn't anyone who would be willing to have such images.
I knew it would be difficult and I would have many setbacks (not only with costs, but more challengingly with the acceptance of the image to be displayed). But knowing God's will and God's plan, I had to press on and continue to try for the sake of the Gospel. In the meantime, my friend kept asking when he could transfer the money to me. I informed him that I didn't want to receive it yet because I still needed to find someone with a billboard who would be willing to display a Jesus image at an affordable price (which was proving to be difficult).
Money in Hand
Seven months passed and November came, my friend came back to visit me. To my surprise, he came with the money in hand. I told him, I had not been successful yet in finding a billboard, but he insisted that I keep the money in my possession ready to be used when a breakthrough comes. I felt nervous keeping it, "It's God's money", I said, but my friend insisted. He handed me $1,800. I was shocked, I told him that he pledged $1,600 and not $1,800. Why was this?
My friend began to tell the story that on entry to the country, he had to declare his cash to Customs (because it was of a large amount). He had brought much cash for many other people for different purposes, and he had divided the money into different bundles. One of those bundles was for me, for the billboard project. He had to unbundle them whilst they were being counted at Customs, and when they had finished counting, he re-bundled them. When he arrived here, he recounted his bundles again before he distributed them to the different people he was giving to, and to his surprise the bundle that was for me had increased by $200 to $1,800. He thought perhaps that he had miscounted, and so he re-counted it again several times, but each time it came to $1,800. He checked, and re-counted all the other bundles again, and they all contained the correct amounts. How could this be? It would appear that God had added to my bundle for the billboard project.
Now you may be asking why didn't God increase the bundle to $5,000 or even to $35,000? Because I would then be sure to get a billboard with that. Well, all I can say is that God has His plans fine-tuned. He must have a specific billboard in mind. The best located billboard, the biggest size, and the most expensive may not be the billboard God wanted.
Faith to Pursue
With the miraculous increase to the money bundle, I was more certain than ever that God will give me a billboard someday, somehow. As much as I didn't want to be a steward to the money (whilst searching for a billboard), the money gave me a stronger faith to believe that the billboard will happen, and gave me the strength to continue to finding one.
Matthew 6:8
... for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
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