Mike Gabriel

Mike shares an incredible story about how God demonstrated His faithfulness through an act of obedience on his part, even though he was not a follower of Jesus Christ. This story of discovering God's presence will challenge you.

Chapters

• 0:00 - 2:00 Chapter 1: Introduction to Mike's Journey
  Mike's introduction to the church and his initial reluctance to attend.
• 2:00 - 6:00 Chapter 2: The Turning Point: Tithing in Difficult Times
  Mike's experience with tithing during financial struggles and the miraculous outcome.
• 6:00 - 9:00 Chapter 3: The Impact of Obedience and Trust
  The transformative effect of Mike's tithing experience on his faith and finances.
• 9:00 - 12:00 Chapter 4: Lessons Learned and Sharing the Message
  Mike's reflections on his journey and his desire to share his story with others.

Transcript

Well, hello, friends.

Welcome to the ML Podcast.

We're so glad to have you with us here today, and I hope that God has blessed you as you listen here today, as well as before.

So, hey, the purpose of this podcast is to highlight how people discover, connect, grow, and share through the story of their journey with Jesus.

And so these stories are intended to provide encouragement and inspiration as you live your Jesus-centered life as well.

So friends, yeah, I hope that you will just gain some new perspective on Jesus as you listen today.

Well, today we're especially excited to have with us Mike Gabriel.

Everybody say hello, Mike.

Hello, all.

There you go, there you go.

Mike is saying hello to you, and I'm going to say hello back.

But we're so glad that you could join us, Mike.

Tell us a little bit about how you came to be here at Maiden Lane Church.

All right.

My wife, Tamara, grew up lifelong friends with Becky Runkle.

She grew up with the Vogels and Becky, and of course went to school with Becky and Randy through their schooling career.

And they were leading a Sunday school class.

Okay.

And for years had asked us to come and join, and I was not a believer.

Okay.

So I wanted nothing to do with church, so I kept saying no for quite some time.

And then our daughter, Kayla, started asking questions about God and Jesus.

Okay.

I didn't have the answers.

Okay.

And so I figured there was one place to get those answers.

So, you know, looking back on it, God was certainly working on my heart, but Randy and Becky had asked us to come in for on a Saturday evening.

They were having a Sunday school, just party general, you know, playing volleyball, whatever in the gym.

And, uh, we came to that, had a really good time and kind of broke down a lot of those stereotypes I had from growing up and just not being in church and thinking all church people were not what they should be.

Yeah, yeah.

So that broke down a lot of barriers, so then we started coming into the Sunday school, and it still took quite some time before I really understood what it was about and professed Jesus as my Savior, but it was a journey for sure, but that was the beginning of it.

So relationships through Tamara, and then the questions through Kayla.

Yep.

All opens up your heart later down the road to then receive Christ.

Yes.

So Mike, tell us a little bit about your story in terms of when that day came and just kind of that little transformation that Jesus made in you.

So I would tell you, there wasn't a day, per se, that I would remember, but it was just a series of events.

Okay.

So we had been attending here for, you know, I would say a couple years at least.

At the time, I had my own business.

Okay.

Wasn't very good at being a businessman.

I always say that I was a tradesman trying to be a businessman, so I was failing miserably.

Okay.

And so, you know, just constant financial struggles.

Sure.

Just all of the family tension that comes along with that.

Sure.

And through that, believe it or not, you know, God starts working on my heart to tithe.

Okay.

Oh, interesting.

Wait, so he began working on your heart to tithe before you even started following Jesus?

Yes.

That is awesome.

Yeah.

And tithing is one of those things that people don't like to talk about.

You can say that again.

Because money's personal.

Right, right.

But I'm an engineer, which a lot of people probably don't know that.

So I'm a numbers guy.

Yeah.

And so it was through the numbers that God starts working on my heart.

That's fascinating.

Yeah.

So I was on a project.

I was down in Kettering working for a Christian lady, and the project had just exploded into unforeseen conditions and...

On the bad side?

Oh, on the bad side.

Okay.

Really bad side.

So it was taking me a lot longer than I had expected.

I was a one-person company, so I had to churn through the jobs to make money.

Yeah.

And I got stuck on this job, and I just, it just was taking forever.

And I always said in my contracting business that I didn't want to go back to my customers and just keep asking them for additional money and whatever.

I just always felt that that was bad practice for the most part.

Certainly legitimate reasons, but not that.

That was kind of my own doing.

And so I was just trudging along on this job, trying to get done, and, you know, still had some time left, a couple weeks probably.

And we come to church on Sunday, and through the, through the course of probably six months leading up to this, I kept talking to Tamera about, you know, I just feel like we should be tithing.

And she was like, that's between you and God because I do all our finances for our household.

And she was like, that's between you and God.

Yeah.

And so I could never really land on, yep, we're going to start doing it because to be honest, was having a hard time just keeping a roof over our heads and keeping our three kids fed, let alone giving money away.

Right, right.

So anyway, come to church on a Sunday, and I just couldn't take it any longer.

And so when they passed the offering plate, now unbeknownst to Tamara, I put a check in the offering plate that left us with less than $20 to our name.

Wow.

And, umm.. had a one-ton diesel truck that cost a couple hundred dollars to fill the fuel tanks up on that thing, and I knew that Wednesday I was going to need fuel, and I didn't even know how that was going to happen because we had no means of doing it, no ability to put it on a credit card or anything.

So I just had no idea.

Talk about a lesson in trust right there. Wow.

Yeah.

Well, let me tell you, that was probably the hardest thing to ever do.

I was trembling when I put that check in the offering plate.

It was frightening.

And Monday or Tuesday, I don't remember what, you know, someday that week before I needed fuel in my truck, the homeowner comes out and had talked to me about, you know, just kind of, hey, I know this job's kind of blossomed and the things you weren't expecting, you know, how much more do I owe you?

And I had went through the spiel of, well, I don't really feel comfortable, if you feel that you want, you owe me more money than you figure you decide what that is, what you're comfortable with that, you know?

And so later that day she comes out and she gives me a card.

Sorry.

No, you're good, man.

You're good.

So I opened the card and, um, there was a check for 10 times what I had put in the offering plate.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

So I start crying just as I am trying to choke back the tears now.

So she said, were you not expecting that?

And I was like, you just have no idea.

And she said, well, I got something else for you.

And then she handed me cash that was literally within pennies of what I had put in the offering.

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

So she gives you a card with the check in addition, some cash that basically equaled the tithe that you'd placed in the plate.

Yes.

Okay.

So not only did I get my tithe back, but 10 times more than that.

That's a really cool God thing right there.

Well, that was really what sealed the deal for me.

Yeah.

Because I, you know, in in my life, there had been times that I had said I was an atheist.

I didn't believe in God.

I didn't grow up in church.

The only time as a family we went to church was for funerals and weddings.

Yeah.

And, you know, there was no talk of church in our household.

And, you know, for whatever reason, I have no idea.

I was a kid, you know.

Yeah.

And then to start down the journey of coming to church and hearing all this stuff and what it actually meant to be a Christian and all this stuff.

And then I go through something like this deal with this job, and it left no question in my mind that God was real.

And all you had to do was obey and trust.

And, you know, there are still times, plenty of times that I have forgotten or forget that.

But I have a great reminder that, you know, all I have to do is just listen and do what he asked me to do and trust that he will be there.

Mike, there's a couple of things that as you're talking, like totally like I'm getting chills thinking about.

Number one is this, like God says in His word when it comes to tithing, test me in this.

And I believe wholeheartedly that when you give, like He says here, I'm going to make sure that you're provided for.

Yeah.

I just believe that.

Yeah.

And to hear your story of this is what God did for me when I gave.

Because here's the thing, like you're being obedient to him without even really following him.

Right.

I mean, you were, in essence, you were listening to the Holy Spirit speak to you, even though you didn't know it was the Holy Spirit speaking to you.

Right.

And I think that that is an awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome.

Can I say that again?

Awesome.

It's a testimony to God's goodness when God wants to be in control of your life.

Yeah.

And we respond however we respond.

Right.

That's just incredible.

I mean, again, the fact that in putting that gift into the plate, you are saying to God, all right, I'm trusting you on this one, buddy.

I'm hearing this.

I'm not following you.

I'm hearing this, but I'm going to test you.

And God's just sitting there going, yeah, buddy.

Yeah, you just wait until I got coming for you.

Yeah.

I mean, I didn't think of it as testing, really.

It was just something I felt I had to do.

And retrospectively, I see what was happening, of course, I didn't really understand it then. 

But, to me, the story's even a little bigger than that.

And I'm not going to go into the details, but at that point in our lives as a family, you know, we were barely surviving, you know, um, we intermittently was on public assistance to get food stamps or, you know, uh, get healthcare for the kids.

I mean, it was a, it was a struggle.

Um, and bless my wife. Man, she's got a heart of a saint.

I don't know why she hung out so long.

We've been together almost 27 years.

But man, I've put her through it.

But anyway, you know, so we go through all of that.

And then this happens with the tithe.

And of course, you know, from that point forward, it's been a priority for us to tithe because I'm like, there's no way I'm not going to, right.

Right.

So through all that and through just other mechanisms and things that the Lord's put in our path, you know. 

Just our whole financial situation from that point, literally I can look back in time and say from that point forward, things started turning around.

That is awesome.

You know, we look back now and you just think, oh, this is amazing.

It's 180 degree turn.

Yeah.

You know, and, it's astounding to me.

I love telling my story, partly because of just what it means to me, but also it involves a subject of church that people are just typically uncomfortable about talking about.

Very much so, yeah.

I think we need to stop that because God uses all sorts of different ways and things to speak to people.

And, you know, finances and good financial habits are essential if you ever want to stop running the rat race at some level.

You know what I mean?

So I try to tell my story just to help people understand, you know, if you just really start doing what God asks you to do and, and handle things a little better, you would be amazed at how things will be different.

Yeah.

You know?

So you, all that happens when you're not following Jesus, right?

So if you can, tell us a little bit about the time that you finally were like, all right, I am following you, Jesus, no matter what. Here we go.

Well, I mean, I guess I said earlier there wasn't really a day, but it was that whole series of events.

And then you get to that moment where that customer of mine, she hands me the envelope and I open it up.

And I literally, I mean, probably nearly collapsed.

It was just so emotional.

Yeah.

And she had no idea what was going on, you know?

Right.

And I would say from that point forward, there was no question in my mind, you know, and that's when I guess that was my moment, I guess, if you say, look back on it.

And from then on, it's, it's just been, you know, heading down the path.

But, um, it was interesting years and years after that, I actually wrote that lady a letter just to explain to her the impact that she had.

Okay.

Um, not, and I've never seen or heard from her, uh, since I finished the job, but I wanted her to know how much of an impact she had on our life.

So I wrote her a letter just to explain it all.

Um, I, you know, I don't even know if she got the letter to be honest.

I hope she did.

Because I think it'd be in, you know, a good blessing for her to understand, but you know, it was just interesting.

Um, you know, that's kind of what we had a Dave Ramsey financial peace class here not too long ago.

And I was helping kind of lead that.

And I love that because it ties right in with my story.

Absolutely.

So I was going to bring that up.

I'm so glad that you did because, you know, I know that there are people who need to experience that again in their lives.

Right.

Um, do you, is, is that going to happen again anytime soon?

Do you know?

I don't know.

Okay.

I would like for it to, um, I think it's just trying to get it on the, on the board.

Right, right.

Well, Mike, I'm, I'm here to tell you, man, I, I've this first time I've heard your story and I'm blessed for the fact that again, I go back to this whole idea of somebody who's not following Jesus, who's impressed to do something that, friends, I'm just going to be honest with you, most Christians don't want to do.

I heard a stat one time that if every person who actually says they follow Jesus would tithe, would biblically tithe that the church could eradicate world hunger.

Wouldn't surprise me.

I mean, think about that for a minute.

That is just astounding.

Yes.

And yet we are so hesitant to put in what God asked us to bring to the storehouse.

Right.

It's all about that control.

Yeah, yeah.

And so to hear your story, I'm just like, I mean, that preaches right there.

So thank you so much for telling us that.

Yeah.

Friends, I know that Mike and Tamara, when they are in Sunday morning, they usually sit, if you're looking out from the platform, right in front of the sound booth area, a few rows up.

Mike and Tamara are part of Alan Ault's group on Sunday morning.

You see Mike all the time.

Sometimes on a Sunday morning, he's usually talking with Lori Baker about some kind of building issue, if there's something going on.

But I'm sure that if you have some questions, you could stop Mike and ask him.

Is that okay with you, Mike?

Yeah, I'd be happy to.

But Mike, thanks so much for sharing your story.

We certainly appreciate that.

Friends, the next time on the ML podcast, we're going to hear a really cool story about Vickie Davis and the health scare that she had.

So you do not want to miss this miraculous story that she and her daughters have to tell.

So until next time, we'll see you soon.

We'll see you.

Mike, that is, I'm sure to tell you, man, that's awesome.