The ten dollar bill
What can you do with a ten dollar bill???
Well, I can tell you that I am a professional shopper so I know I could find a number of places to spend my 10 dollars.
- a pair of socks
- one gallon of 1% milk (btw in ND a gallon of milk is $5.28 right now)
- finger nail polish
- bag of licorice and a diet coke (maybe even two bags of licorice and two
diet cokes)
- coffee date with a friend
- 3 gallons of gas
You get the point. The options are endless even in Dickinson where the price of everything seems to continue to rise, but yesterday I chose to spend my ten dollar bill on something a little different.
As I was leaving Wal-Mart, there was a gentlemen standing on the corner asking for help. I will be honest, I normally do not give to these people as there seems to be an endless amount of them on the corners of Wal-Mart. Well today was different, for some reason I told Ireland that we should give him money. I said if the light stays red and we won't back up traffic we should give him some money. It stayed red for a short time and Ireland jumped out of the van and handed the money to the man. He told her thanks and she told him to have a good day.
As we were driving away, I told Ireland that where he spends that money is not important to me. So we left and continued on with our day.
Later that evening I saw a post on Facebook about a car that has been parked in the Wal-Mart parking lot for many days off and on asking for gas money or any form of help. I have definitely seen this car myself and wondered if I should have stopped and given them money or food. The post generated over a hundred emails when I was reading it and I'm sure by today there are probably over two hundred because it seemed everyone had a comment to make about these swindlers. Most of the comments were very negative and unfortunately I found myself starting to think like so many of them - negatively.
Hours later, I continued to have this nagging feeling of whether or not to help these people as it seems some of these pan-handlers may make more money than I do in a day. The beautiful thing about my short-lived negativity, I knew I did the right thing and my daughter saw it. I really don't care to be honest where he spent our ten dollar bill because I was grateful that God has blessed my family with the financial means to give a mere ten dollar bill and a heart to do it. That ten dollar bill will exchange hands hundreds of times between all walks of life over the years to come and I just hope it can bless someone else along the way. It is not my place to judge someone asking for money on the corner because I have no idea what kind of life they have lived or what their future holds.
What I do know is that that ten dollar bill left my hand, then Ireland's hand, and is now in the hands of a unknown man who without a doubt walks a much harder life than we do!
~Jenn
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive. ~Acts 20:35
Well, I can tell you that I am a professional shopper so I know I could find a number of places to spend my 10 dollars.
- a pair of socks
- one gallon of 1% milk (btw in ND a gallon of milk is $5.28 right now)
- finger nail polish
- bag of licorice and a diet coke (maybe even two bags of licorice and two
diet cokes)
- coffee date with a friend
- 3 gallons of gas
You get the point. The options are endless even in Dickinson where the price of everything seems to continue to rise, but yesterday I chose to spend my ten dollar bill on something a little different.
As I was leaving Wal-Mart, there was a gentlemen standing on the corner asking for help. I will be honest, I normally do not give to these people as there seems to be an endless amount of them on the corners of Wal-Mart. Well today was different, for some reason I told Ireland that we should give him money. I said if the light stays red and we won't back up traffic we should give him some money. It stayed red for a short time and Ireland jumped out of the van and handed the money to the man. He told her thanks and she told him to have a good day.
As we were driving away, I told Ireland that where he spends that money is not important to me. So we left and continued on with our day.
Later that evening I saw a post on Facebook about a car that has been parked in the Wal-Mart parking lot for many days off and on asking for gas money or any form of help. I have definitely seen this car myself and wondered if I should have stopped and given them money or food. The post generated over a hundred emails when I was reading it and I'm sure by today there are probably over two hundred because it seemed everyone had a comment to make about these swindlers. Most of the comments were very negative and unfortunately I found myself starting to think like so many of them - negatively.
Hours later, I continued to have this nagging feeling of whether or not to help these people as it seems some of these pan-handlers may make more money than I do in a day. The beautiful thing about my short-lived negativity, I knew I did the right thing and my daughter saw it. I really don't care to be honest where he spent our ten dollar bill because I was grateful that God has blessed my family with the financial means to give a mere ten dollar bill and a heart to do it. That ten dollar bill will exchange hands hundreds of times between all walks of life over the years to come and I just hope it can bless someone else along the way. It is not my place to judge someone asking for money on the corner because I have no idea what kind of life they have lived or what their future holds.
What I do know is that that ten dollar bill left my hand, then Ireland's hand, and is now in the hands of a unknown man who without a doubt walks a much harder life than we do!
~Jenn
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive. ~Acts 20:35
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