Topics:<\/b> Assumptions; Generosity; Giving; Help; Judging Others; Kindness; Sacrifice; Self-centeredness; Service<\/p>\n
References:<\/b> Deuteronomy 15:7; Proverbs 19:17; Matthew 25:31\u201346; Luke 6:38; Romans 12:13; 2 Corinthians 8:12; 9:7<\/p>\n
Long before Sebastian Junger wrote The Perfect Storm<\/i>, he decided to hitchhike across the country. He writes of what took place while making his way through the aftermath of a blizzard in Gillette, Wyoming:<\/p>\n
After two or three hours I saw a man working his way toward me along the on-ramp from town. He wore filthy canvas coveralls and carried a black lunchbox, and as he got closer I could see that his hair was matted in a way that occurs only after months on the skids. I put my hand on the pepper spray in my pocket and turned to face him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou been out here long?\u201d he asked. I nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere you headed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWarm out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYup.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got enough food?\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought about this. Clearly he didn\u2019t have any, and if I admitted that I did, he\u2019d ask for some. That would mean opening my backpack and revealing all my expensive camping gear. I felt alone and ripe for pillage, and I just didn\u2019t want that. \u201cI got some cheese,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou won\u2019t make it to California with just a little cheese,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ll starve.\u201d<\/p>\n
At first I didn\u2019t understand. What was he saying, exactly? I kept my hand on the pepper spray.<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve me,\u201d he said, \u201cI know. Listen, I\u2019m living in a car back in town, and every day I walk out to the mine to see if they need me. Today they don\u2019t, so I won\u2019t be needing this lunch of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
I began to sag with understanding. In his world, whatever you have in your bag is all you\u2019ve got, and he knew \u201ca little cheese\u201d would never get me to California. \u201cI\u2019m fine, really,\u201d I said. \u201cI don\u2019t need your lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n
He shook his head and opened his box. It was a typical church meal\u2014a bologna sandwich, an apple, and a bag of chips\u2014and I kept protesting, but he wouldn\u2019t hear of it. I finally took his lunch and watched him walk toward town.<\/p>\n
I learned a lot of things in college. I learned things in Europe and in Mexico and in my hometown of Belmont, Massachusetts. But I had to stand out there on that frozen piece of interstate to learn generosity from a homeless man.<\/p>\n
\u2014Sebastian Junger, \u201cWelcome Stranger,\u201d National Geographic Adventure<\/i> (June 2006)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Topics: Assumptions; Generosity; Giving; Help; Judging Others; Kindness; Sacrifice; Self-centeredness; Service References: Deuteronomy 15:7; Proverbs 19:17; Matthew 25:31\u201346; Luke 6:38; Romans 12:13; 2 Corinthians 8:12; 9:7 Long before Sebastian Junger wrote The Perfect Storm, he decided to hitchhike across the country. He writes of what took place while making his way through the aftermath of … Continue reading “GIFT
\n OF BOLOGNA”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6437\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}