Generosity
Dr. John K. Mathew
According to David Jeremiah, in 1981, Albert started working at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburg, cleaning and polishing shoes for $5 a pair. Satisfied customers often tipped him, usually a dollar or two.
One Christmas, a customer gave Albert $50 for shining one pair of shoes. Big tips like that were rare, of course, and over the years, as style changed, Albert saw his business dwindle. In 2013, Albert retired after thirty-two years on the job. There was a farewell party. Hospital staff and administrators spoke of how much he would be missed. But when he walked out the door on his last day, his influence at that hospital continued.
Why? Because during all those years of shining shoes, Albert Lexie donated more than thirty percent of his earnings to the hospital's Free Care Fund, which helps cash-strapped parents pay for their children's medical expenses. And those tips? He gave every single one to the hospital, more than $200000 dollars in all.
That's why David Jeremiah said, "Generosity is not about what's in your bank account-it's about what's in your heart." If Lexie comes from the lowest rung of society, Charles Feeney comes from the other end. He was a billionaire with a simple philosophy of "giving while you are living." By 2016, he had given more than $ 8 billion to charitable organizations around the world.
It is said about Charles Feeney that he never owned a house or a car. Until he was seventy-five, he traveled by coach, not first class. He wore simple clothes, an inexpensive plastic watch, and preferred hamburgers at his favorite local restaurant. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, "It is better to give than receive." Barnabas in the New Testament was an exuberant giver. It is written in the Scriptures that, "Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means, son of encouragement) sold a field he owned and bought the money and put it at the apostle's feet" (Acts 4: 36). True giving must come from the heart and it is a blessing. As it says,
He who earns is an industrious man,
He who spends is a well-furnished man.
He who saves is a prepared man.
He who gives is a blessed man.
