Article appeared in the
BY WILLIAM
J. HENSON
COUPLE YEARS AGO I DECIDED TO retire;
you know, really retire. I had served as an officer in the Air Force for 23
years, then as a state worker for various states for about 10 years. Now it was
time to "really retire." My neighborhood needed me. I had read on a
church bulletin board the words "The best argument for a living Christ is
a living Christian." I told my wife, Nancy, "I'm going to finally get
to know our neighbors and show them how helpful I can be."
A Willing Neighbor
The first tasks were a snap. I helped a neighbor
shovel snow until his driveway was cleared. Then another neighbor needed help
hauling some hay for her new horse. Another neighbor asked me to haul some wood
for him. My telephone was always ringing. Being a good neighbor was turning out
to be fun.
Several weeks went by, and one of our neighbors, whom I had not met, called.
"Hi, Bill," he said. "I hear you know about computers. Someone
told me that you had built your own computer. Is that true?"
"Yes, George," I replied, "I enjoy working on computers."
"Well, I have this computer that
I'm trying to get running, but it won't work. Can you help?"
"I'll be glad to come over and take a look," I said.
Several days went by, and finally I had time to "look" at George's
computer. As I began to examine it I noticed that all of the components were at
least 15 years old. The hard drive was small, the motherboard was outdated, and
the case and power supply were old and worn. I asked George if he owned another
computer, and he replied, "Yes, we have a new one, but I wanted to get
this one operating so that our daughter can have one for her schoolwork."
My initial examination of this computer told me that the components were too
old and worn to be of any use, and I explained this to George. He replied,
"We don't have money for a new one. I guess Bree
will have to wait. She's in the third grade. We might be able to afford one
next year."
Going the Second Mile
I went home thinking of George's situation. Bree's
sad brown eyes kept haunting me. Most of the night I was restless, but by
morning I had decided what I would do. At breakfast I confided to
In about a week the new motherboard and CPU arrived. I had a new case that I
had been saving for another project, but this is for a worthy cause, I
mused as I began to assemble all of the parts. A hard drive, floppy disk drive,
CD-ROM, and a video card were also added. Things were coming together nicely.
After all the parts were assembled, I powered up the unit, and it hummed.
A couple days later I took the completed unit over to George's house. Bree was happy, but George seemed to have lost some of his
initial interest in the project. He said, "Well, now that you have that
done, how about a new CD burner and hard drive for my other computer?"
I was too stunned to say anything.
Until then all the "help projects" in our neighborhood had been
accepted with great appreciation by those receiving them. I didn't know what to
think. Later I asked
"What do you mean?"
She replied, "Other neighbors have complained that George manipulates them
into doing things for him and buying things for him."
"They do have a nice house," I reflected.
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Questions for
Reflection 1. What are your favorite community service activities? What talents
or spiritual gifts do you use when you're involved in helping others? 2. When have you felt tension between what you feel called and
equipped to do and those who may be taking advantage of your willingness to
help? How did you resolve it? 3. Describe situations in which a person ultimately may be harmed by
your desire to do them a favor? 4. Besides wanting to reflect God's love, what other motives might
lead you to help someone in need? Which motives are noble; which are less so? |
"Oh, they don't seem to need
money," my wife observed.
"Well, what should I do?" I asked. "I don't want to hurt his
feelings or make him think I'm not a Christian."
A couple more days went by. George called me several times and asked when I was
going to get to his new CD burner and hard drive. I didn't know what to do. My
wife and I had been reading the Bible through for our morning devotions, and we
were in the Gospel of John, where Jesus spoke about Judas with the words "One
of you is a devil!" (John 6:70, NIV).
As Nancy and I talked about this we wondered why Jesus would allow a man such
as Judas to be so close to Him, knowing that he (Judas) was so evil. I
remembered reading in the book The Desire of Ages how Judas seemed to manipulate
every situation that he and the other disciples were in to his advantage. Being
the treasurer of the group, he would frequently take small sums in his care for
his own use. But in spite of it all, Jesus did not shun or rebuke Judas, and
the other disciples looked up to Judas and admired him (see The Desire of
Ages, pp. 717, 718).
What Would Jesus Do?
The following Monday (after much prayer) I completed the work that George asked
me to do for him, free of charge. That evening I asked
Several days went by, and the phone rang.
"What does he want?"
"It seems that the gate to his house is broken. He thinks it'll cost about
$300."
_________________________
William J. Henson and his wife, Nancy, live in
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