16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Hebrews 13:16 (NKJV)
By Bro. John L. Cash
I’ve already written another column for today, but you’ll have to wait ‘til next week to read it. There’s something incredible going today in Mississippi, and I just had to tell you. It’s snowing!
Now, never mind that it was 70 degrees yesterday and that this fluffy layer of white will almost certainly be melted away by suppertime. It’s a rare thing to have snow here, and the children will make the most of it.
Days like today always make me think of a snowstorm that we had when my sons were in high school. Spencer must have been 17 years old, so that means Seth would have been about 14. As you can imagine, Spencer relished his role as the “cool older brother” and didn’t want “the kid brother” around most of the time. But arising on that snowy Saturday morning and realizing that Seth had spent the night with a friend, Spencer did a wonderful thing. He called his younger brother and begged him to come home.
Seth was reluctant at first; he was having a good time where he was. But Spencer laid out an argument worthy of final deliberations at the Supreme Court. And as usual, Spencer prevailed, and soon Seth was home. And then “The Snowball Fight Olympics” began, with joy that is seldom seen on this Earth.
I told Susan how surprised I was about Spencer’s phone call to Seth. But she wasn’t surprised at all. She said it’s no fun to have snow if you don’t have anybody to enjoy it with. I realized that she had hit the nail on the head.
When I was a child, I read a book by Corrie ten Boom. She was a Christian woman who was sent to a concentration camp for hiding Jewish people in her home during World War II. Once, while she was in solitary confinement, she received a care package from home. It was full of wonderful things to eat. But she became sad when she realized she didn’t have anyone to share her bounty with. I have never forgotten her wise conclusion: “You can’t be rich alone.”
Maybe that explains why many people today are unhappy even though they live in the richest society that has ever existed. Being rich isn’t having a lot of things. Being rich is having folks to share your good things with.
That’s why I’m ending the story now. I’ve spent enough time inside the house writing. Now it’s time to find somebody to go out in the snow with….
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad.” He was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and has spent the last 32 years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. He recently retired after 28 years as a Mississippi public schoolteacher, and is now a stay-at-home-grandpa with his new grandson, Landon Cash. He and his lovely wife, Susan, recently moved to a brick house in town (where Landon is coming over today because his electricity is off.) Their kids include Spencer (age 26), his wife Madeline (age 26), and Seth (age 23), and his wife Leanne (age 22). You can send him a note at brotherjohn@ilovechurchcamp.com.
