57 Cents
In the inner city of Philadelphia, around the turn of the 20th Century, a little girl wearing dirty street-wise clothes was noticeably upset as she ran away from church that morning. As she was stopped by the pastor, he asked her why she was running from the place of worship. While fighting through tears, she explained to him that she tried to enter, but was told that “there was no place for a girl like her.”
The pastor calmed her, and walked her back to church with him and found a good place for her to be part of the family and how to worship the Lord. Sadly though, this girl’s days on Earth were already numbered for a few years later she died of an illness at a young age. The girl’s mom called the church, and asked for help in funeral planning and sought some consultation. Obliging, Pastor Russell Conwell went over to the house to help gather some things, and noticed a torn purse owned by the deceased. He peaked in to find an offering envelope containing 57 cents and hard to read note stating, “this offering is for the new building, so no little girl like me will ever be turned away again.”
Emotionally charged, the pastor returned to his congregation, waited for the right moment, and then dedicated the small amount of change to a building program that would change lives around the world forever. He said that there is no way over his dead body that he would refuse the final wish of a deceased little girl.
Though specifics are fuzzy for the lack of details, money poured in. Press grabbed a hold of the story and people living in the city of Brotherly Love gave generously. One legend even has it that there was a wealthy Christian who was led to donate 1000 acres of land for exactly 57 cents, and supposedly the man had not even heard of the story before his donation.
Today, Temple Baptist Church in urban Philly houses a giant worship center capable of housing over 3000 people per service. Moreover, Good Samaritan Hospital will save 100,000s of lives this year, and Temple University continues to keep her strong Christian foundation to this day. All this began from the giving spirit of a little girl. To say that the life of Hattie Mae Wiett had an impact in this world would be an understatement. She gave to the Lord.
But how about us? Putting the issue of money aside, do we give to the Lord? Matthew 25:42 points out that many do not give when the Good Book states, “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.”
The life of Hattie makes us ask ourselves a difficult question today. Is Christ in my life to give to me, or am I in Christ to give back to Him? Hopefully, if we give of ourselves sacrificially to Christ, we will never be forced to answer the tough questions as indicated in Matthew. And someday, for those of us who know the Lord, we will officially be able to thank Hattie for her generous gift.
THE STRONGEST ANIMAL?
While tucking my boys into bed the other night, we began discussing important issues of life with my twin 10 year olds. They asked some questions such as, “Who would win, a lion or a pack of wolves?” Or, “Daddy, if you could be a superhero, what would your special powers be?” Finally, “What is the strongest animal on the planet?”
Without missing a beat, I told them that a pack of wolves would defeat a lion because a pack of wolves would never quit until their prey has been killed. I received some giggles when I explained to them that if I could be anyone, I would be “grilled cheese man.” And when it came to the strongest animal, I looked into their inquisitive eyes and told them without a doubt, it was the ANT!
“But Daddy, an ant is NOT an animal!” they shouted. I told them it doesn’t matter, the strongest living being to walk the face of this planet is undeniably the ant.
I explained that ants can carry more weight per body-size than any being ever created by God. They perform their work diligently, without question, without fail, without complaint. Ants have the ability to perceive smells through their antenna and communicate to each other using pheromones, or chemical hormones. Once a path is formed by the ant community, every ant uses it without question for they have no territorial arguments within their specie. The ant next is complex, their foraging abilities are unbelievable, their compound eyes actually use light from the sun to help them determine direction much like a compass, and some breeds of ants actually are able to feel the Earth’s magnetic field to know which way to go.
I went on to say that people benefit from ants for their underground trails naturally aerate the soil, they can be eaten as a tremendously high source of protein for people groups that are void of animal consumption, and have been used in numerous mythologies for centuries including those written by Aesop and even Mark Twain.
Then I opened my Bible and turned to the 6th chapter of Proverbs. It states, “Go the ant, you sluggard; observe its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer, or ruler, yet it prepares its food for the summer; it gathers at the harvest what it will eat!”
The lesson to my boys became a lesson to all of us. We should serve the Lord diligently, without question, without fail, without complaint. We should use our spiritual gifts of discernment to perceive those who are hurting and those who need help. We should follow in the path made for us by Christ, and walk the path without wavering. We should live our lives void of territorial arguments, working together as fellow believers of Christ based on the Scriptures. Though our lives, jumbled up with a difficult mix of spouse, children, parents work, house, recreation, and limited time may appear complex, we should come to the Lord continuously using the Holy Spirit as our guide, like a compass. And when God seems far from us because we have maneuvered our lives in such a way that the Lord may feel distant, we just need to go outside and look at God’s creation to know He is with us.
You know, if your load seems heavy, if your life seems to be more than you can bear, we can all learn a lesson from the ant. With the Lord guiding, we can carry more than we infinitely believed possible, we just have to give our lives over to Him.