Don't be so quick to take...but do be quick to give

Sharron and I were blessed by a short visit by Stephanie and Alyse over the past three days. I was so glad to see them. It brought joy to my heart to hold my grand daughter again. You may notice she has two small teeth and others ready to be seen soon. This picture was taken in the evening before bed time as we played. She is only 10 1/2 months old and almost ready to take her first steps. She stands really well but then tends to wobble and then fall down.


I really appreciated the short daddy/daughter time I had with Stephanie. She always has goodinsights for me. Her perspectives help me grasp and understand current reality in my life. I also received an email from Danielle which challenged me with some thoughts. I look forward to seeing Danielle next week.

As I have been praying and working on my series of messages about stewardship I am asking God for new truths to share. In my preparation for this week I read the following story which was posted on the AP site just yesterday:

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - A $469,000 payroll error at a New Jersey company has earned an Illinois man a date with police. Anthony Armatys of Palatine, Ill., was arrested Wednesday on theft charges after allegedly receiving electronic payroll bank deposits from a New Jersey company he never worked for, authorities said. Officials at Avaya Inc., a telecommunications provider located in Basking Ridge, discovered checks had been mistakenly direct deposited into his account for nearly five years, according to the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office.

Armatys, 34, had accepted a position with Avaya years ago, authorities said, but he rescinded the acceptance before he ever started working. However, a system error resulted in checks being deposited into Armatys' bank account from the fall of 2002 to March of 2007, when the company discovered the error, officials said. During that time, Armatys collected more than $469,000 in pay and even withdrew approximately $1,900 from his company retirement account administered by Fidelity Investments, authorities said." (end of article) Thanks to my friend Tom Kinnan for the insights.

Wow! Nice part-time job...well...no-time job, I guess. Apparently this man never heard the phrase..."there's no such thing as a free lunch." I'm quite sure he knew the money popping up in his bank account wasn't his...and yet he kept it. And even withdrew money from a retirement account! Good grief.

Obviously we would never do such a thing, I'm sure. Ok...well...maybe we wouldn't mention that $20 bill we found in the store. Ah...well...then there's that compliment we received, and we took the credit even though we knew someone else did the work. Oh yeah...and we did keep the extra change the store clerk inadvertently gave us. Come to think of it... doesn't the Bible say something about "would a person rob God?"

You see...it's easy to dip into areas where we shouldn't and take what we shouldn't...and no one notices. But it does catch up to us. Maybe you're stealing someone's thunder...or taking another person's dignity because of how you're treating them. Maybe you're robbing someone of an opportunity because you won't trust them. Or perhaps you're taking too much credit for what is being done around you.

Don't be so quick to take...but do be quick to give. You'll find that when you do, God is filling your soul with more than you can contain. And when you're giving...you don't need to be looking over your shoulder as if you're committing a crime.

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38

These my friends are, you guessed it, trustworthy statements.....