$100,000

What would you do with $100,000?

I have a Kindergarten project hanging on my bulletin board at work that my daughter completed a couple of years ago.  It is a fake $100 bill stapled to a primary ledger page with the sentence prompt, “If I had $100…”  She was to complete the sentence and draw a picture.  She wrote,

  “I would buy my mom a car.” 

How sweet!  She wouldn’t spend it on gum or lip gloss or Beanie Boos (the latest craze in stuffed animals) or a rainbow loom (the latest crazy craze).  She would spend it on her mom. 

Or would she? 

Don’t get me wrong here…I am not questioning her desire to be kind. She’s a sweet girl and she shares…sometimes. But I also don’t underestimate her desire to be selfish.  I think her perspective is limited, and so her response was limited.  You see, when she was asked what she would do with $100, that was the most money she could imagine.  They were celebrating 100 Days of School and they were discussing what a big number that was and when you’re five and you’ve just figured out how to count to 100, it does seem like the biggest thing ever.  And so a pipe dream like actually having $100 deserves a crazy vision…like a buying a car.  Obviously she has no concept of what a car costs or how little help $100 would be in that purchase.  She has a limited perspective.  I think if she had been asked what she would do with $10, she would say, “I would buy gum and a beanaboo.”  Actually, I am 110% confident that’s what she would do, because it’s what she did with her $10 last weekend.  She can imagine how to spend $10.  She can’t imagine how to spend $100.

What’s my point? 

Let me ask you a question.  What can you imagine?

Have you ever listened to the “world peace” speeches given by the contestants in the Miss America pageants?  I don’t mean to poke fun, but I kind of lump these answers in the category of my daughter’s answer.  “What will you do with all of your power, Miss America?” 

  “I’ll save the world!”  

She can’t really imagine what she would do with “all that power” because she doesn’t, in reality, have all that much power.    I’m not hating on Miss America (I’m not hating on my sweet little girl either).  Because my point is that we have a limited perspective as well.

So, I’ll ask again, what can you imagine? 

"Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us;"

In college I was a part of a Bible study by Henry Blackaby called Experiencing God. It was a study I would return to several times early in ministry because of the profound questions it asked of me. One of the best was, "Are you attempting something so great for God that if He doesn't show up, you will fall flat on your face?" At the time I was attending a small Southern Baptist liberal arts college whose motto was "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God." I was inspired. What could I attempt for God?

Not to be unwise. Not to get ahead of God and leave His path. Not to test his mercy or grace or goodness or faithfulness. Not to make a name for myself. But to challenge my own tiny world. How big is my God?  Only as big as the box I put Him in…

One hundred thousand dollars isn’t really a lot of money.  Most of the people I rub elbows with deal with this kind of figure on a regular basis.  On the other hand, I don’t have to drive very far at all to find a friend who would consider this a small fortune. 

  It’s really all about your perspective.

Sometimes I fantasize about what I would do with major money. I’m talking like 10 million or some huge number, a life changing number.  I don’t think I’m alone.  We currently live vicariously through many “reality tv” shows that pose the same the life altering situation.  I personally have imagined who I would give money to, how much I spend on myself, how much I would save. I imagine how much fun it would be to write a check to my alma maters (all three of them!) for thousands of dollars.  I imagine flying to Africa to deliver the money necessary to plant churches and clinics.  I imagine giving my brother the money he needs to finish school.  I imagine how great it would feel to see the smiles on those people’s faces.  It’s something like the stick figure my daughter drew on her page of me smiling beside my new red car.  Really, I’m clueless.  And so I go back to counting out quarters from the bottom of my purse.

It’s easy to fantasize about something that will never happen.  That’s why we call it a fantasy.  But what would you really do with $100,000?  That’s not a stretch.  It’s an inheritance.  It’s a good business year.  It’s a house sale.  I think the answer to that question comes with what is revealed about us when we describe what we would do with $100.  Would I share?  Would I give it away?  Would I save it?  Would I spend it on shoes?

I think sometimes we are afraid to share it, to give it away, to spend it on someone else because we lose control of it.  They may use it wrong, not appreciate the gift, waste it, or lose it.  “Never give money to beggars” is rule #1 when visiting another city.  Why not?  Why is it my responsibility to make sure that the recipient of the gift appropriately uses the gift I’ve given?  And if that is my responsibility, is it appropriately named a gift?  Wouldn’t that be a loan or a grant?  And who taught us that this was our responsibility?  Over and over Jesus told stories about people who wasted money by socking it away, people who criticized the owner for wasting money by giving it to someone else (because money is always wasted if it’s not mine), about people who misused, abused, and ultimately crucified the gifts that Father gave us.  Was God irresponsible in his giving of Christ to us?  I don’t think God ever intended to express “trust” in our abilities to make good choices when he gave us His Son.  On the contrary, he gave us what we didn’t deserve but so desperately needed because we had so screwed up all the other gifts he had given.  God is not irresponsible.  But his generosity is irrepressible. 

How much does it cost to be a follower of this lavish God?  Such a wise, pragmatic question!  We would applaud a young person who “weighed the cost” of an important life decision.  Jesus’ response was simple: everything.  (and what an irresponsible decision that would be!!)  We would also likely applaud the young person who, upon hearing such a startling and reckless response, decided to complete his current plans, see to his current responsibilities, and tie up loose ends.  Jesus didn’t applaud.

Because it’s one thing to weigh the cost of a new automobile.  It’s quite another to weigh the cost of life in Christ.  The one demonstrates maturity.  The other, faith…or a lack thereof.  I’ve heard all my life that we are to “consider the cost” and well we should. But when God calls and our response is, “that costs too much” we are….........................................................lost.

And if we are to be found, we need a new perspective.

What if we jumped?  Jumped off the high dive and into the deep end.  Off the bow and into the ocean!  Off of our safe platforms of rules and regs and traditions and temptations and into the secure but unsafe arms of Jesus!!  Oh where or where might he take us!!!  Some people leap.  I don’t know exactly how they are wired, but there is something in them that gives them the courage to jump.  I think the rest of us have to practice.

I was friends with a girl in college who decided she wanted to learn to sky dive.  She talked about the lessons in the gymnasium where she jumped off of a tiny platform onto a padded mat only a couple of feet below her so she could “learn to fall.” But on the day of the dive, there was only one shot to trust her parachute, and if that parachute didn’t work, her “falling” lessons were going to seem a little silly.  For me, I think God has had to give me lots of “learning to fall” lessons so I can begin to trust the parachute. 

So today’s “falling” lesson: what would you do with $100,000?  What if we prayed, “God I don’t know what to do with this money.  But You know.  You know exactly who needs it.  And I don’t know why you’ve given it to me.  But I’m thankful for the opportunity to be a conduit of your grace!  Show me who needs it.  Give me perspective and vision.  And when it’s time to jump, give me courage. Because I don’t just trust the parachute…I trust the Maker.”

What I've Learned at Buddy Walk

This weekend we will walk in our 6^th Buddy Walk, an awareness event for Down Syndrome.  Buddy Walks are held across the country this time of year to raise public awareness about Trisomy 21 and the community it affects.  But for me, Buddy Walk has become a classroom.  Here are some things I have learned at our annual Buddy Walks.

1. 1. Everyone can walk.  Our first year walking, we were invited to walk with another team.  The family we joined had been walking for five or six years, they had successfully pulled together teams of walkers, and had been instrumental in coordinating this huge community event.  I was so thankful that they adopted us in and let us experience Buddy Walk as members of the community and not as spectators.  I think that defines what I really want for my child.  I want him to live life, to contribute all of his beautiful gifts to his community.  I don’t want him to be a spectator in life, I want him to be a team player. At the time of his first walk, my little guy should have been taking his first steps.  It would be another year before that actually happened.  Fortunately, we had a great team of therapists who were undeterred: Joel would walk.  Unfortunately, we’ve already encountered  other situations where the immediate assumption is that he will ever only be a spectator.  People immediately want to define what he can’t do.  In reality, a “you can’t” attitude isn’t just applied to kids sporting extra chromosomes.  All of us have been told at some point, “you can’t.”  Which is why we all need cheerleaders, encouragers who say, “oh yes you can.”  Everyone walks at Buddy Walk.  Or rides or runs.  Little ones are in strollers, wagons, and on daddies’ shoulders.  Kids and pets run laps around walkers.  But eventually there is a single movement forward, and everyone is included.
   
   
   
   
   2. No one has to walk alone. For two years our family joined this other precious family.  Not just at the Buddy Walk.  In the walk of life.  The scariest moment in any of our lives is to think we have to face our struggles alone.  But nothing could be more false.  We were created for relationship.  And there is a family that has been created for each of us.  Some people are not born into great families, and they have to find a forever family.  Some people are blessed to find family everywhere they go.  Most of us experience a little of both.  The worst thing we can do to ourselves is hide in our fear and isolate ourselves.  Find a buddy.  The most amazing thing happens when you choose to walk beside someone: you look beside you and find someone walking with you.
   
   
   
   
   3. Long walks are better with friends.  Our third year we decided to venture to the Buddy Walk on our own.  Joel was in preschool and we invited his whole class to participate.  They made a banner for him and put their little hand prints on it.  Then we found out that a little friend in his class wanted to walk with us.  This little boy was a typical child, and was developing at an amazing rate.  He had a huge vocabulary and great athleticism, even at age 2.  Joel was walking pretty well at this point, but not talking yet.  He signed most of what he needed to communicate.  His speech therapist was trying to locate things in his world that he wanted to talk about.  Asking him to indentify random pictures just wasn’t working.  At this point he needed objects that produced “hard guttural stops” to talk about, words that start with K, hard G, or hard C.  And so we started talking about our new buddy Cole.  Every skill Joel develops is a hard won effort.  We’ve learned that these long roads of mastery are best mastered one small step at a time.  What a joy it is to find friends along the way that make the time pass, that give us joyful things to talk about, that celebrate not just the end, but every step along the way.
   
   
   
   
   4. Learn to walk your walk.  Two years ago the location of our Walk changed.  We went from making several laps around a track to one lap around a field.  I had no idea that the change would be noticed little baby Joel.  But while thousands of walkers stopped their stride to find easy rest under shade trees and tents, Joel kept walking.  He made another complete lap completely by himself, then content that his walk was now over, rested with his team.  While we need and celebrate all of the support around us, each of us has to find the personal courage to walk our own walk.  I can only be me.  Joel can only be Joel.  We’ll be miserable if we are trying to be someone we are not.  But if we learn to embrace who we are, to embrace our own stride, our own footprint, even our own meandering paths, we will discover the great strength our Creator has given us to be just who we are.
   
   
   
   
   5. Learn to appreciate another person’s walk.  Last year I again made the attempt to invite lots of people from our community to join our little team.   I was so honored that several families joined “Joel’s Heroes”, but I was most blessed to walk beside Carla.  Carla had already been to a walk that morning, a walk to “Make Strides Against Breast Cancer.”  It was pretty amazing that she would participate in two walks in one day.  It was absolutely inspiring to realize that the first walk was for her.  Carla had been fighting cancer in one form or another for most of her life.  She lost her leg during her childhood and walked with a prosthesis.  She lost her hair during the most recent battle with cancer and sported a gorgeous blonde wig.  Carla’s body had been ravaged by the disease and its treatment.  Her gait was wobbly and slow as she moved along with the Buddy crowd.  But, whose wasn’t?  Everyone on Joel’s team was so inspired by her walk with us.  I would learn over the next few months just how inspiring of a woman she was.  Carla’s physical body lost its battle to cancer this past spring.  Carla’s spirit was triumphant against cancer as people came from near and far to celebrate her life and marvel at this little woman and her strength and poise until the end.  I suspect we will have many more years of Buddy walks and I will appreciate every member of the team.  But I will never forget the year that we walked beside Carla.
   
   
   We are almost ready for our Buddy Walk this year.  We’ve had family come join us from across the country.  I’m not sure if Joel knows that all of this is for him or not.  But I believe he knows that we are for him.  And he has a team.  And each of us walks a stronger walk for being a member of team Joel.