Sitting in church, I remembered an old friend of the family who is now running the Johnson County Nursing Center. Having visited residents of centers before, I knew that one thing the center can’t provide is outside companionship for the people who live there.

I went home, looked up the center information, and made a call. KJ wasn’t there, but I was put through to her voice mail, which I learned at 9:00 that night went straight to her cell phone.

Of course she knew several residents that would need a visit. Tonight, Wednesday, I was introduced to Bernice. Bernice is 100 years old and has no relatives or friends to come visit her. She has a state-appointed guardian who comes to see her once a year.

I spent an hour with Bernice learning about her three marriages, four brothers, and a sister. She has lived so long in resident care centers that she never knew when her siblings died–only that she was told about it later. The facilities didn’t have the capacity to take her to the funerals.

She is still ambulatory with a walker and is a little hard-of-hearing, but is generally alert and able to carry on a conversation.

I left with the knowledge that I would be back. Not only is it something that people like Bernice need, but I needed the experience. That’s the funny thing about giving–you walk away feeling like you have received the gift. In this case, no amount of money could have bought what I was given.

What about the offering? I took Bernice stuffed Snoopy sitting on his dog house decked with lights and a button that, when pressed, played happy music for her.

Then, today, I walked into the Coffee Shop and there at one of the tables was a man whom, from previous encounters, I knew was struggling in every area of his life; a man who rides a bike as his primary transportation and who has too many personal and financial challenges to count. We exchanged greetings and when I asked what was going on in his life, he said that he had lost his job when the company moved too far away for him to commute to by bike and he was needing to take a reading test to qualify for some training that might open up some other job opportunities. He had a money order for $5 but the test cost $25.

Candidly, it didn’t strike me for a minute or two and when it did, I wondered how many others had been in my path all along but that I had similarly looked right past by being preoccupied. I placed some more money in the envelope and gave him the envelope including the $20 I had received.

Thank you for stirring us to generosity and greater awareness of the needs around us.

Life in Abundance International (LIA) was the recipient of some of this generousity. The money donated by the Fraser’s will go to fund care for an orphan in Africa for nearly 5 months. This covers medical care, school fees, food, clothing, and family.

We were so inspired by all the stories of generousity from your church family that we wanted to share the inspiration with all our friends on our blog at blog.liaint.org.

Thanks for loving people in amazing ways and thanks for being a part of changing the world.

God Bless,
J.J. Peterson
LIA