First of all, let me say that I am not in dire need of money and I do not have a sob story to tell you but I do have certain aims and ambitions that might interest you if you are in a philanthropic mood and if you have the means to share some of your wealth.
I am an 84-year old widowed man with three grown sons who have now gone their own way out into the world.
I have been retired from the active work force since sometime in 2001. I live on a fixed income like many people my age.
My life is average … there is food on my table, clothes on my back and a roof over my head. I am in fairly good health with very few limiting factors so I can live a somewhat active life.
But there are many times when I meet people out on the streets who are far less fortunate than I am. Often these people approach me for a handout and they usually tell me things like, “I haven’t eaten in Three days, can you help me out?
When this happens, I offer to take them to a restaurant and buy them a meal. Sometimes I have taken people to grocery stores and bought them some food items. Sometimes I have seen people at checkouts in retail stores (Particularly grocery stores) struggling to pay for their purchases and often putting things they cannot afford back onto the store shelves.
Several times now, I have approached those folks and offered to pay for whatever it is they wanted so bad but felt they had to put back onto the store shelves. I always remind them that I am offering to help them in the Name of Jesus.
I believe The Lord desires for me to do this little limited ministry of charity so I do what I can with what I have.
Once, the little church where I went to before the pandemic hit needed to buy a passenger van so they could go and get people and bring them to church and take them home again after the services were over.
I gave the church several hundred dollars toward the purchase of a used van.
These are the kinds of things that I have done and would like to do a lot more of. So far all that I have given for this purpose has come strictly from my own personal funds. This giving has not placed any special burden on me but I thought that somewhere, out there in the vastness of this great Land of ours, there might be someone else who would feel led to help me build up a reserve for such purposes.
And to be completely honest with you, I am sure the time will come when I would dip into that reserve for some of my own personal expenses — I will not lie about it …Not everything I might receive from this kind of appeal will be going to charitable works …No, some of what I might receive from this effort will definitely go toward my own desires.
What I am doing right now is casting my bread upon the waters. There is no urgency. God has said in so many words that if we give we shall receive. I believe that and that is basically what this entire experiment is based on.
If this sounds a little nutty, I apologize.But I feel, in my heart, that there is someone out there somewhere who will read this and will be touched in their understanding as to what I am about and who will be willing to part with a dollar or two ..or whatever.
That is about all I have to say except for “God bless you, whoever you are and wherever you are.”