photo from www.theactuary.com |
Egg Money
My friend had said he wanted to meet me; he had a gift from one of his sons. So we met for breakfast on a Wednesday at 9am. Not too early, but still comfortably within the parameters of the breakfast promotion (half off your entire breakfast order before 11am). We got to talking about our lives and ministries. He's a pastor in town with a unique vision for reaching the "least of these" with the love of Christ (Matthew 25). My family and I are missionaries in Ethiopia, hopefully loving people with similar passion and practicality.
We talked together for about three hours. Turns out we could've had lunch, but there was no similar promotion, so we got up to leave. Just before doing so, he pulled out a plain #10 envelope. He said that his son has a little summer business to raise money. He takes care of the chickens and sells eggs by the side of the road. He had raised $52.00 over the course of the summer and wanted to help a missionary with his earnings. My friend gestured for me to open the envelope. What I saw inside created a deep emotional response. My eyes welled up with tears. I was holding exactly $52.00 in my hands... egg money from the entire summer. "Oh God, make me worthy of this young boy's fifty-two dollars," I prayed. And then I recalled the sacrifice of another boy in John 6:9 and one of my favorite sermons. God has always taken care of us, many times in the most humbling of ways.