Our task is to be like the father of a seminary student. He and his father, an inner-city pastor, were jogging in their neighborhood when they decided to have a pizza delivered to their home.
On their way to the pay phone a homeless man asked them for change. Without a second thought the father emptied his pockets and said, “Here, take what you need.” Enormously grateful, the homeless man took every last coin.
But as he turned to go, the father suddenly realized that he had given away the change he needed to make his phone call. “Pardon me,” he called to the man. “I need to make a call. Can you spare some change?” Turning, the homeless man emptied his pockets. As he held the change out to the father he said, “Here, take what you need.” [2]
2] Thomas G. Long, writing in The Christian Century (March 2001)
Spare change or life change…the Father isn’t done working on any of us yet