Stewardship

Nuclear Penmanship

Edward Bulwer-Lytton was an English play writer in the early 19th century.  In 1839, he wrote a play that you have probably never heard of, except for one line.  With that one phrase he accomplished what every writer strives to achieve.  He penned a statement that will likely live for centuries.  Act II, scene II, has these words – “The pen is mightier than the sword.” 

The obvious and true meaning of these words is that what is written is more powerful than a military assault.  Since the invention of the printing press, this statement has proven true numerous times.  Even on a personal level, most of us will recover more quickly from a punch in the eye than from the malicious attack of a critic armed with a pen. 

The power of the pen has been enhanced to the point of extreme danger in this day and age that we could appropriately call the communication era.  With the advent and growth of the Internet and the abundance of blogs, it seems that virtually every person has been armed with the powerful weapon of words.

In times past, whenever there was a church fight, the only ones involved were the church members, those with the most vested interest.   Even though a church split was uncomfortable and typically very destructive, the only ones involved were church members.  In their desire not to harm the church, members usually kept such disputes close to the vest. 

Along came the Internet and the apparent reality that every person in the country has their own website (probably a slight exaggeration).  Not only do people have their own door to the Internet, they like to use it.  The result is that often when there is a church fight, church members representing all sides of an issue, race to their computer to post an accusation, description, evaluation, or slanderous comment about others within the church. 

Real Help for Real People

During an extended conversation with a friend recently, he came up with what may or may not be a good idea.  At the time, it sounded good, but I am still giving it some thought.  So, I thought I should ask for your help. 

We were talking about stewardship (I do have other interests, by the way), specifically excuses people offer for not giving.  One of the more frequent problems people cite that prevents them from giving is that they are in debt.  Many times, I have heard people say they will tithe as soon as they get out of debt.

My friend suggested that it would be nice to belong to a church that cared enough about its members to provide concrete help when debt is a problem.  What would happen if the church responded to the problem of debt by paying it off for the family?  This would free up their finances and allow them to tithe.

If you are like me, your first thought is, “That’s dumb!”  However, give it some more thought.  This action of the church might have some very positive ramifications.  For example, a typical family might have $5,000 in credit card debt with an income of $40,000.  (I’m just making up these numbers for the purpose of illustration.)  The $5,000 paid by the church will be repaid by the family tithe in a little more than a year, and in two years, the return will be significant.  Thus, my friend’s idea might make financial sense for the church. 

Making a New Friend

I am not a frequent user of text messaging on my phone, even though it seems to be the way to communicate now days.  When I do receive a message, it is almost always from one of my kids or my wife.  Sharon is really into texting, but when I receive a message, I am more likely to make a call than respond with a message.  I like to talk to real people in real time. 

Last weekend I was in the Target store with some of the family as they were shopping.  To my surprise, my phone indicated that I was the recipient of a text message.  Here was the message:
“All u can eat crawfish 2morrow call me in am if u wanna go”

There was no name associated with the message, only a phone number.  It was a 214 number so I knew it was someone in Dallas.  However, I could not think of anyone who I know, or who knows me, who would be inviting me to a crawfish feed on Sunday morning.  I don’t like crawfish and I am normally busy on Sunday morning. 

The easy, and probably the correct thing to do would have been to ignore the message or send a reply indicating they had the wrong number.  But, it’s Saturday evening and I’m in the Target trying to stay occupied while the others shop, so I decided to make a new friend.  I send a very short reply.
“Im n” (The great thing about texting is that you do not need to know spelling or punctuation.)

During this whole process, I felt like I was fishing.  So far, I have thrown the baited hook into the water and it was not long until I had a bite.  He quickly replied with one word, “cool.”

I had a nibble but it was important to set the hook so I wrote back, “Can u pick me up?”

I wanted to engage him in further conversation to make sure this new friendship might go somewhere.  Sure enough, I had him when he wrote back, “Yes around 11?” 

In order to keep the conversation going I pushed a little to see how far he would go.  I wrote, “the usual place?” just to see if he would speculate where that might be. 

However, he was little confused when he replied, “wheres that?”

“Where we usually meet. Can I bring a friend?” I replied.