My wife and I just returned from a trip to India. We were in the Northeast part of the country in the state of Assam. It is located in a flood plain right at the base of the foothills of the Himalayan mountain range. (I got to see the Himalayas from the plane- They looked sweet!) We went there to share the Gospel with a people group who has never even had access to the Bible. It was an amazing experience!

That was my second trip to India, and my wife's third trip. If you have never been to India, just go watch "Slum-Dog Millionaire" and you will have a pretty good picture of what it is like. It is a land of contrast: Amazing palaces and nice hotels right next to trash-filled streets and... cows. Poverty is profound in some places, and the cast-system just adds to the confusing culture.

I never want to go on a mission trip with an attitude of superiority. When I go, I try to ask myself, "What can I learn from them?"

There were many things I took away from this trip, but there was one thing in particular in regards to personal finance that I wanted to share with you today. The people in the region where we were at lived in bamboo huts with grass roofs. They got up every morning at 4:30 to start pumping water from their wells and cook breakfast which always consisted of rice accompanied by some vegetables and Indian curry sauce. Most of them were not living in poverty as you might think of it, but most of them had never traveled outside the fields of their village and some of them had never even seen white skin.

We weren't in Kansas any more.

Despite the fact that every day was a similar routine with the same difficulties, they were content. But not only that - they were generous! By the time we left, we were each given at least four or five gifts. Most of these gifts consisted of beautiful textiles that they had woven themselves. Some of the materials took them a full week to make (that is if they work all day, every day, for seven days)!

Even in their humble state of life, they were more generous than we could ever hope to be.

Some people may blow that off and say, "Well, that's probably just a culture thing", and to be honest, that is half correct. But let me ask you a question: Have you ever worked an entire week on something in order to give it to a complete stranger as a gift to say "thank you"?

They gave abundantly and they gave with joy in their hearts. We should challenge ourselves to do the same.

Do you have any inspirational stories about giving? Share one by submitting a comment below: