"I Don't Mind Not Having The Money"

Danny sits on the sunny side most noon hours. I see him at the adult day care building when I walk to a local deli, and I wave to him. Lately I started calling out, “Hey Danny!” And Danny would smile his big smile and wave back with his one arm that moves.

About forty years about Danny was walking home from work along a highway when a car struck him.  He was rendered a quadriplegic, with some brain damage. Danny was my first personal injury client.  I put my heart and soul into his case but I was 25 and made some rookie mistakes.  The jury said Danny was entitled to a million dollars.  But, the jury also said Danny was mostly at fault and in Wisconsin that means you get zero dollars from the verdict. We didn’t talk again until Friday.

I was preparing a sermon about how when we welcome the ‘least of these’ we are welcoming Jesus.  I had avoided telling Danny who I was in his life, because, frankly, for forty years I have felt guilty about not figuring out a way to help him. What would be the point of reminding him of the trial?  He probably doesn’t remember. He looks happy. So I just walked by, waving.  Now, there was Danny in his wheelchair, one of society’s ‘least of these.’  I decided to walk up to him and confess my guilt.  I told him my name. He said, “Yeah, Te Winkle handled my case.”  I told him how sorry I was that I lost his case. He asked how much money he would have received. I told him it was a million dollars.

He looked up at me and said, “I don’t mind not having the money. God doesn’t want us to have so much money.  He wants us to love people, to love everyone.  I believe in Jesus. He is coming again, in the sky, way up there,” he said pointing to sun. “And we all get to go meet him, in the clouds. I can’t wait.” (Pause, reflecting) “It’s going to be so cool.”

“And then,” he continued, “we go to heaven, to be with Jesus, way up there, farther than the sun.” Boy, did he smile.

I could feel the warmth.

The Man Behind the Counter

The man behind the counter was having a bad day. In fact, he was ready to quit. That very minute. I was in a convenience-type store, just picking up a few items, and I was behind a younger woman in the line.  The woman had her four frozen pizzas and a bottle of wine. I am guessing the pizzas were for her kids and the bottle of wine for was after her kids were in bed.  She was engaged in quite a long conversation on her cellular telephone.  She talked on her phone, gesturing with one hand while holding the phone with the other, all while the man behind the counter was ringing her up (are you old enough to remember why this check-out routine is called “ringing up”?).  After he had bagged her goods the woman swiped her debit card, picked up “dinner” and walked away, chatting away without missing a word in the conversation.

Now it  was my turn, except that the man behind the counter was visibly angry and he was not taking up my goods. He said, “How can people be so rude? She didn’t even acknowledge that I was alive. Who does she think she is? I am ready to quit, right now. I mean it. I don’t have to put up with people like that.”  Well, my wife, Jill, was waiting in the car, and I didn't want to have to find another store, so I tried to calm him down. “Well, maybe she had an emergency call.” “No,” he said, “ I could hear the whole conversation, just a lot of foolish talk.” And then came a bit of “street psychology” which caught my ear. The man behind the counter said, “They think they can ignore me because I am their inferior. They prove they are superior to me by not even looking at me. But, I know the truth; they are the inferior ones who need to act like they are so important on their phones that they can just ignore people like me.”  I quickly processed this analysis, and in some weird way it made sense. Plus, I wanted to get checked out, so I quickly agreed with him.  I joined him in bemoaning the fact that in our effort to be more and more “connected” we have in fact become a society of people that fail to connect at the most basic level. We don’t even see the man behind the counter anymore.

Before Jesus could heal the blind man he had to first see him. (John 9:1)  To be a true servant of our neighbors we first need to see them.  Some of used to sing,  “We’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride. They’ll know we are Christians by our love.” (Peter Scholtes © 1966)  Sadly, that tune went out of style, but it is more relevant than ever.  Jesus saw each person as someone he loved, because he did love everyone. Do we?  Well, a good way to start showing it is by truly seeing the man behind the counter.

Remember, It's a Love Story

When your faith is most tested. When you wonder whether you have faith.

When you wonder if you really do love. God. Someone. Anyone.

When you wonder if you really are loved. By anyone. By someone. By God.

Remember that God’s story, which is your story too, is at its most basic level about love.

What kind of love story?  

A Love Like That

The sun never says to the earth,

“You owe me.”

Look what happens

with a love like that.

It lights the whole sky.   Hafiz (Source: translated by Daniel Ladinsky; discovered at inward/outward.org)

Do you see the sunshine?

Did the sun ask if you wanted to be embraced by its rays; its warmth? 

That, my dear friends, is how God loves you. 

And how we are to love.

The Meaning of Life?

I had a great lunch experience today. If you want a way to stimulate your thinking cap on a summer Monday, have lunch with a bright college student. They have great questions! My lunch guest and I talked about faith and truth and life. In particular, we talked about what gives life meaning. Indeed, does life have meaning? My friend suggested that life is given meaning by what each person does...we give our own lives meaning. But, after we explored that idea we came to see that there needs to be some objective, outside source which gives our lives value and meaning. If we each give our own lives meaning, then I cannot judge the actions of a person as good or bad. But, we concluded, there must be some objective way of knowing good and evil; of judging whether some conduct, e.g. murder, is bad, and other conduct, e.g. saving a life, is good.

In the end, surprisingly, we came to see that the meaning of life comes in helping others see the value in their own lives, and in directing ourselves and others to "good living." This reminded me of Jesus' command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." This Truth is heard so often that it risks being tuned out by its hearers. But, when you engage in an hour long discussion that wanders through all kinds of questions about life, it feels good to come back home to the Truth that Jesus teaches.

How do we know life has meaning? By seeing the Good that is brought when we practice God's love toward our neighbor. What will give my life meaning? Serving God by loving God and my neighbor.So simple it seems almost trite to write it. So profound that it took an hour of lively discussion to find it.

Our discussion went on to explore how we know we are God's child; how we are drawn by God's love as he chases us until we are captured by God's grace; why I treasure our Reformed theology. In the end, we settled little. But we decided it would be good to meet again, and to this time invite some other questioners. It will be great! But I had better carve out more time for lunch that day!Go talk to a young person today, and let them ask lots of questions. Help them live the questions.

Don't worry about having the right answers....because sometimes that is not the point. People searching the faith need lots of space to ask questions...to live questions. Be sure to leave room for the Holy Spirit to give direction. And then enjoy the searching of young minds. You will be blessed.