Will a man rob God? I heard this every Sunday for the first 12 years of my life. I always knew when it was time to dig deep and produce what ever change my mother put in my squishy red plastic wallet, as the deacons passed the offering tray around. I also knew to only put a few coins at a time so that each time the tray came down the aisle I would have something to give. I always felt terrible when I had nothing to give.

Shortly after joining the LDS church my parents decided they would return to our family church (Pentecostal). Although they felt they should return to the pentecostal church they allowed me to continue to attend the LDS church. Every Sunday my parents would drop me off at the ward building and they always made sure I had a few dollars for the offering tray, a couple of times I even got twenty dollars! YEP... I said they gave me money for the offering tray.

Remember I was only 12, so I did what most 12 year olds would have done, I pocketed the money. What? I never asked for money for the offering tray, my mother assumed that the LDS church collected offering and tithing like some of the other churches did.