-Jonathan Hart
I remember it well! It was my final year of college. I was engaged to be married, “broke as a joke,” and seminary bound. Standing in my college dorm, I made a covenant with God: “I believe I know where you want me to go to seminary, but it won’t be free. I also believe that it would dishonor you to go into great debt when I could go some- where else and have my way paid, but I will go where you lead in faith.” I would like to share with you that the Lord immediately wiped away my seminary expenses, or that an angel came down from heaven and wrote a big, fat check so that for four years I did not have to worry about money. However, that is not how things unfolded, but the true story is much better. I enrolled at Asbury. I got a job. I was encouraged by my mentors. Yet, I worried about money every time my student account was substantially lower than the tuition bills posted, and then I watched God answer prayer through the financial support that we received.
While we thank God for all of the financial blessings that we received, both large and small, none was as consistent and personal as the generous donations that came to us through the Stegall Seminary Scholarship Foundation. The quarterly gifts were always right on time and, often- times, accompanied by a personal note signed by a brother or sister in Christ that I had never met.
Our last year in Wilmore, Kentucky, was our first year as parents. Finances had gotten tighter. With both of our families a full day’s drive away, and our jobs limiting the number of days we could visit for Christmas, my wife and I were heartbroken that our finances were spread so thin that we did not have enough money for our child’s first Christmas. Even though children don’t remember their first Christmas, you just try to tell a new mother that her child’s first Christmas gifts aren’t important! It was then a miracle happened. I went to the mailbox and found a check channeled through the Stegall Seminary Scholarship Foundation. “Hmm,” I thought. “They decided to send us a little early the quarterly check that arrives in January, and I am grateful.” However, when I opened the envelope, I could hardly believe my eyes. There was a generous check inside of the envelope with a note attached, “Dear Jonathan and Liz, We are the Seekers Sunday School Class of First United Methodist Church of Montgomery. We know that you will be receiving your quarterly check in a few weeks, but we just wanted to send you this additional gift for Christmas. We hope that you can find some special use for it and it blesses you.” I’ll never forget sitting down on the side of the bed and handing it to Liz as she cried. I have heard it said that grace compels generosity. We will always be grateful for the saints who have been compelled by God’s grace to be generous through the Stegall Seminary Scholarship Foundation. We will always remember this special Christmas gift. It truly was a means of grace for us.