A sobbing little girl stood near a small church from which she had been turned away because it was “too crowded.”
“I can’t go to Sunday School,” she sobbed to the pastor as he walked by.
Seeing her shabby, unkempt appearance, the pastor guessed the reason and, taking her by the hand, took her inside and found a place for her in the Sunday school class. The child was so happy that they found room for her, and she went to bed that night thinking of the children who have no place to worship Jesus.
Some two years later, this child lay dead in one of the poor tenement buildings. Her parents called for the kind hearted pastor who had befriended their daughter to handle the final arrangements.
As her poor little body was being moved, a worn and crumpled red purse was found which seemed to have been rummaged from some trash dump.
Inside was found 57 cents and a note, scribbled in childish handwriting, which read: “This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday School.”
For two years she had saved for this offering of love. When the pastor tearfully read that note, he knew instantly what he would do. Carrying this note and the cracked, red pocketbook to the pulpit, he told the story of her unselfish love and devotion.
He challenged his deacons to get busy and raise enough money for the larger building.
A newspaper learned of the story and published it. It was read by a wealthy realtor who offered them a parcel of land worth many thousands.
When told that the church could not pay so much, he offered to sell it to the little church for 57 cents.
Church members made large donations. Checks came from far and wide.
Within five years the little girl’s gift had increased to $250,000.00–a huge sum for that time (near the turn of the century). Her unselfish love had paid large dividends.
When you are in the city of Philadelphia, look up Temple Baptist Church, with a seating capacity of 3,300. And be sure to visit Temple University, where thousands of students are educated.
Have a look, too, at the Good Samaritan Hospital and at a Sunday School building which houses hundreds of beautiful children, built so that no child in the area will ever need to be left outside during Sunday School time.
In one of the rooms of this building may be seen the picture of the sweet face of the little girl whose 57 cents, so sacrificially saved, made such remarkable history. Alongside of it is a portrait of her kind pastor, Dr. Russel H. Conwell, author of the book, “Acres of Diamonds”
This is a true story, which goes to show WHAT GOD CAN DO WITH 57 CENTS.
Why do people want to grow up? Once you’ve grown up all the fun is gone, everybody worries and gets all serious when there’s so much more to life. I don’t think God ever intended for us to loose that spirit and life. We are even required to have a child like faith, believing in things that no ‘respectable adult’ would believe in. At the same time we should be growing as people, getting wiser and knowing how to deal with certain situations. To be wise and yet have that kid inside always ready for anything and excited about life, that seems to be the formulae that we should grow with.
So what do you do? I’m talking to myself as much as anybody else, but I think the key is spending more time meditating on the word of God – who he is. Through real people’s stories God has shown us himself. So we read them, again and again. As we read God reveals himself in different ways. You stop and think, hey why did he do that? As Rob Bell puts it, you ask questions which lead to more questions, those lead to more answers with more questions. It goes on forever because God is infinite. But as you learn more, you love God more. You understand things more. You try harder to do or not do certain things. You appreciate life more and you’ll find that you just don’t get it. So you carry on, and eventually what seemed like work becomes pleasure. You can’t wait to get home and read God’s word. You want to talk and discuss God more and more. You find other conversation lifeless without God being the centre of it all. You fall in love with Him again every day.
A true story…
Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she was very scared, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took hold of the rope, and started up the face of that rock. Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda’s eye and knocked out her contact lens.
Destiny Hope Cyrus was born on the 23rd of November 1992. In January 2008 she officially changed her name to Miley Ray Cyrus.
In 2007 Miley had a few seconds air time in the Disney Channel movie hit High School Musical 2, seen dancing by the pool. She also guest starred as Yatta on the Emperor’s new school.
