Saturday, December 9, 2006
Remember Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," with Scrooge, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim?
I'm here to tell you a modern, though somewhat different, version. It actually happened this Christmas season in Wichita, Kan. -- minus the visits by three spirits.
The financier in this story is president of Central Bank and Trust. The details came via a friend of his. I called the banker, and here's what he told me:
It was a chance meeting after church at a Walgreens drugstore. A woman was standing by the door asking for money to buy medicine for her husband.
Was the woman trying to take advantage of him, the banker wondered. How could he be sure she was on the up-and-up? After a momentary pause, he gave her 5 and hurried into the store.
But the banker was bothered by his miserly act. "I hadn't been out of church five minutes, and I simply wished her well."
The incident troubled him all week. He prayed that somehow he could make it right.
The following Sunday, he got his chance.
The banker was again worshipping at Immanuel Baptist Church. During the sermon, the preacher urged the congregation to "make themselves small and God large in their lives," sacrificing what each wants for what God wants, and sharing some of their excess to bless others.
There she was
As the congregation was invited at the end to come forward for prayer, the banker spotted her. The same woman he had encountered outside the drugstore had stepped forward.
The banker hurried to greet her. "You don't remember me," he said. "I gave you 5 and felt like a dog. I didn't really try to help you. We're going to do it right. What do you need? How can I help?"
Yes, she remembered him, she said, as tears welled in her eyes. Turns out she had been on a bus trip from Boston to Oklahoma City with her husband, who is blind, and their 17-year-old daughter. At the bus station in Wichita, Kan., her purse and suitcase were stolen.
The family had been in an inexpensive motel for several weeks trying to get help to go home.
With canned goods from the church's food pantry, the banker handed her a sack of groceries and drove the woman to the motel.
"They were for real, they were not using anybody. They were simply stranded and broke," he said.
Inside the motel room, the banker immediately knew he had to do more. The family was kind and thankful, but how could they cook without a stove and eat without utensils? The banker and his wife bought them a chicken dinner and gave them enough money for more food and travel.
They were told to call one of the pastors at the church the next day so he could help them make arrangements to return to Boston.
Two days later, enough money had been sent by the husband's workplace for bus fare. The woman offered to return the money. No, it was a gift. Last week, the family was home in Boston.
Learned like Scrooge
In this story, there are no Christmas ghosts with rattling chains. No frightening visions of the future. But like Scrooge, the banker said he learned some lessons.
He said he learned it's important to slow down and pay attention to others and their needs, not just what we think they need.
"Everyone is equal, but sometimes circumstances aren't equal."
He recalled the New Testament verse, in which Jesus said, "What you do to the least of these, you do to me."
"That whole lesson lived itself out in my life," he said.
The banker wrote an e-mail to the pastor who had preached the sermon that helped him see a woman in need:
"Thanks for your sermon. Thanks for making yourself available to hear what she needs to get back home so they can be independent and taking care of themselves again!"
At the end of "A Christmas Carol," Dickens writes of Scrooge: "It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.
"May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, every one!"
The banker isn't seeking recognition. He simply wants to encourage others to be aware of those around them who need help and to offer it as the Spirit moves them. Both giver and receiver will be blessed.
The banker is David Hodge, his wife is Jill. And he says they were truly blessed.
McClatchy Newspapers