This Saturday evening our little church, like others across the country, put on our kid's Christmas play. I would estimate that 40% or more of our families are at or below the poverty level. There were only two or three cameras in the crowd of proud parents. I did my best to make up for it, taking pictures like crazy. Providing a cute picture of their kids to proud parents--that has to be one of the greatest feelings in the world. I am 10 miles deep into the Christmas spirit, reviewing and printing pictures of beautiful children.
Some of you may have experienced, (or remember the stories of others)-stories about kids getting an apple or an orange for Christmas. Our tiny church provided a brown paper bag with an apple, an orange, some peanuts and a few pieces of hard candy for every child who attended. I am the church treasurer-primarily because I have a computer. This Christmas extravagance left our little church with $29.00 in the bank. Twenty-Nine dollars; and I have never felt so proud of a bank balance. I am fifty-nine years old. I am learning about radical generosity, and learning it from the poorest of the poor. I love my church and its members. "See how they love one another".
I cannot claim this level of generosity for myself. Barb and I have our retirement accounts, and other luxuries. I had not thought of myself as a rich person-but I have not experienced a $29.00 bank balance for many years. I have much to learn in the years that remain. I want to know the things that matter in life. I don't want my senses dulled by riches and luxury. I want to know the truth. The truth about myself as well as others. Maybe I will learn more about spending my money on gifts of peanuts and candy, instead of extravagant gifts for other rich people.
We no longer have a child in the Christmas program. To my surprise, that has not diminished my interest. Those former years with a narrow focus on my children were wonderful. And now, I think it will be wonderful to broaden my focus, to try to see what is happening, in a more general way, to kids in our church and community. As a part of that commitment----
I am getting ready to take a big step of faith, and would appreciate all the prayers of my friends. I have applied for a vacant position on our local school board. In my judgment, the member who has resigned after three years has caused immeasurable damage to our community in general, and the school board in particular. I believe he has acted in a way that awakened and inflamed racial/cultural animosities. If I am chosen, I will be going into a very difficult situation. It seems like everyone loves me right now. The decisions and responsibilities of a school board member will change that, instantaneously, and permanently. I know better, but I am going to serve if selected.
I am a very blessed man. I have spent the evening thinking and writing in front of a warm fire. My beloved Barbara, my wife of thirty-seven years, works and plays hard every day, and has long been asleep, recharging and ready to give her very best to her second grade class on Monday morning. But she is not sleeping in our bed. She is asleep here on the couch, right beside me. This is no accident. She is here because she loves to be beside me, even after all these years. When I am done writing to my friends, I will gently wake her, and turn out the remaining lights. I will see her again, resting with my arms around her, in the morning light. More beautiful, and valuable to me than I could ever explain.
But don?t worry, my friends-I have done my very best to let her now how I feel. There are guys who will never understand how she picked me instead of them-but they never saw the letters and poems I sent her.
I don?t know why some are given so much, and some receive one blow after another. I wish it were not so. But life can be a very subtle thing. In my riches, I have not yet learned to spend my money on peanuts and candy, to give away in a brown paper bag. I am going to be thinking about that during this Christmas season.
Some of you may have experienced, (or remember the stories of others)-stories about kids getting an apple or an orange for Christmas. Our tiny church provided a brown paper bag with an apple, an orange, some peanuts and a few pieces of hard candy for every child who attended. I am the church treasurer-primarily because I have a computer. This Christmas extravagance left our little church with $29.00 in the bank. Twenty-Nine dollars; and I have never felt so proud of a bank balance. I am fifty-nine years old. I am learning about radical generosity, and learning it from the poorest of the poor. I love my church and its members. "See how they love one another".
I cannot claim this level of generosity for myself. Barb and I have our retirement accounts, and other luxuries. I had not thought of myself as a rich person-but I have not experienced a $29.00 bank balance for many years. I have much to learn in the years that remain. I want to know the things that matter in life. I don't want my senses dulled by riches and luxury. I want to know the truth. The truth about myself as well as others. Maybe I will learn more about spending my money on gifts of peanuts and candy, instead of extravagant gifts for other rich people.
We no longer have a child in the Christmas program. To my surprise, that has not diminished my interest. Those former years with a narrow focus on my children were wonderful. And now, I think it will be wonderful to broaden my focus, to try to see what is happening, in a more general way, to kids in our church and community. As a part of that commitment----
I am getting ready to take a big step of faith, and would appreciate all the prayers of my friends. I have applied for a vacant position on our local school board. In my judgment, the member who has resigned after three years has caused immeasurable damage to our community in general, and the school board in particular. I believe he has acted in a way that awakened and inflamed racial/cultural animosities. If I am chosen, I will be going into a very difficult situation. It seems like everyone loves me right now. The decisions and responsibilities of a school board member will change that, instantaneously, and permanently. I know better, but I am going to serve if selected.
I am a very blessed man. I have spent the evening thinking and writing in front of a warm fire. My beloved Barbara, my wife of thirty-seven years, works and plays hard every day, and has long been asleep, recharging and ready to give her very best to her second grade class on Monday morning. But she is not sleeping in our bed. She is asleep here on the couch, right beside me. This is no accident. She is here because she loves to be beside me, even after all these years. When I am done writing to my friends, I will gently wake her, and turn out the remaining lights. I will see her again, resting with my arms around her, in the morning light. More beautiful, and valuable to me than I could ever explain.
But don?t worry, my friends-I have done my very best to let her now how I feel. There are guys who will never understand how she picked me instead of them-but they never saw the letters and poems I sent her.
I don?t know why some are given so much, and some receive one blow after another. I wish it were not so. But life can be a very subtle thing. In my riches, I have not yet learned to spend my money on peanuts and candy, to give away in a brown paper bag. I am going to be thinking about that during this Christmas season.
