|
Every Day is Precious: What you don't know can help you
By ROB PAYNE
For Williamson A.M.
It's a little sad, but one of the biggest events of our day is the arrival of mail. As a daily routine, it comes just behind the kids getting home from school and dinner.
I guess we get more than our share of junk mail. How can Capital One afford to send pre-approved credit approvals to our house almost every day? I get more credit card applications today than I ever have. It's almost as if they know I'm unemployed and can't afford them. Maybe they get their mailing list from the unemployment office, thinking that being short on cash, we'll run up massive credit card debt.
One of the best parts of being unemployed if there are any good parts is having a great way to honestly say ''no'' to telemarketers of home mortgages. Most are very happy to catch anyone at home, and especially happy to talk with the person the wife allows to call himself the decision maker for the home.
But their happiness soon fades as I tell them I'm unemployed and wouldn't qualify for one of their loans most hang up quickly. There was this one telemarketer who wasn't stopped by that. He asked, ''But you have a mortgage now?'' I answered yes, and he persisted, ''How are you making your payments now?''
I told him it was none of his business. Immediately upon hanging up, I realized that I had just missed a perfect opportunity to witness to him. I should have told him more details of our situation and how we get to see the love of Christ every day as friends, family and strangers pitch in to help us financially.
But not all of our mail is junk mail.
Very often we get a card or note a little ambassador of encouragement. And sometimes the note is from someone who hasn't signed their name. And every now and then there is a little cash in the envelope. This is always fun and makes going through the mail fun in spite of the junk mail.
The cash is appreciated, but the anonymity unsettles me a little each time we receive one I don't know whom to thank. I even tried saving the envelopes for a while, thinking I would be able to put to use all the time I spend watching CSI: I could do a handwriting analysis and identify the senders so I could thank them properly.
But then Paul told me whom to thank when I was reading again in the book of Acts. Paul was in Athens addressing a group of Greek leaders when he said:
''For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.'' (Acts 17:23) Paul then proceeds to tell the Greeks just who their unknown god is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the master creator.
That's who we should thank for our anonymous donations and for our signed donations. Our entire existence is from God and we are now learning that deeper than we ever have.
If you know a family in need, consider sending a little financial support anonymously. Not knowing who you are could help them know who God is.
Every Day Is Precious is a column to remind us to treat everyone we see today as if it could be the last time we see them. It is written by Rob Payne, whose wife, Marcy, was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) in August 2000. Now 40 years old, she has gone from winning 5 and 10K races to being quadriplegic and on a ventilator at home. For a collection of these columns in book form, more ways to help others, more about Marcy, or to receive e-mail updates on her condition, visit www.EveryDayIsPrecious.com. If you have helped someone without being asked, or know of someone who has, share it with others. Send to rob@everydayisprecious.com or to Every Day Is Precious, 2051 Harvington Drive, Franklin, TN 37069.
| 
');
post yXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXcate ɋ"ly Rӵ ntry ( 'T:gw%,
<}y X V url jhttp://gcirm.tennessean.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/news.tennessean.com/williamsonam/index.html@Top bsrl Uhttp://tennessean.com/williamsonam/archives/04/03/48545466.shtml?Element_ID=48545466 mime
image/gif hvrs data GIF89a< ֵ*opoTxώoʷpqγВ걣sձ
vMMNMfʙ̷.,-ɫ\'껗+`o,UXpǻO-RۦǎּOX,wN1
rM̪iOt٥ruwj(ܹNtz'hTOɔجغfG鑇̈[痻eƸMurprmoXAd71hC1Ǧ˺*qT٧غlwX0[XBYݩVxج۪ɩXɤwW2ouF2fܹ\0Sٶhe_Ǩߤ꜆˨iWygɪ۹vFRLEmLwk(SƒoQf{0L÷xiB1%`.vhㆈSeX+UxuOkQZbXܷ:ڜLCʽѲFt? yzܖehWכg<νӖȹȥ5jTŜڱV\r#! <>=ۭ%*=+$ Ĺ= ! , < H AṷOp'd[eD 3%zD 3G:tK߿4f8s ad#: !ѣHoYӈPq2+iOVpkͯ`ÊuFٙhӪ]6۲Πf-6XYe
