Three or four times a year we try to do a “Preaching Roundtable.” Kyle (our first-born son) and I and whoever of his brothers is available at the time will meet in a small town about half-way between Riverview, Michigan and Granger, Indiana for coffee, conversation and study. Together we will work on sermon material and ideas. We will meet early and spend the morning studying and talking, then we will grab a fast-food lunch and head back to our homes and families and churches.
The last time we met we ate at MacDonalds. I arrived ahead of time and ordered food for all of us. Just as I finished the order Kyle came in and ran across the lobby toward us. The young lady told us how much I owed for the food. I reached for my wallet. Kyle didn’t say anything. He didn’t argue half-heartedly that he wanted to pay. He just raced across the lobby of the restaurant just as I was handing a twenty-dollar-bill to the clerk and he swiped his credit card in the little machine on the top of the counter. Immediately the machine said “payment approved” and I stood there with a twenty-dollar bill in my hand staring blankly at the young lady behind the counter.
She smiled and said; “He was first.”
Thats that way it ought to work. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write that God loves it when we do not give grudgingly or under compulsion, but eagerly and cheerfully. (see 2 Corinthians 9:7)
I love that boy. God loves him, too. He loves a cheerful giver.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
July 18, 2011
