“Who wants $20?”
That was the question I posed last night to several hundred kids and their parents.
Hands shot up in the air.
The one hand that caught my eye didn’t belong to the first graders bouncing up and down in the front row. It belonged to a freshman in high school sitting off to the side.
There were a line of boys sitting together, but for some reason, my vision targeted on him.
I knew I was going to play a game with that $20 bill before I entered the church. I had it all planned out. I was going to totally decimate the money by spitting on it and rubbing it under my armpit and crumpling it up. Then I was going to ask who still wanted the $20.
When I asked the crowd the second time, that teenage boy’s hand once again went up into the air.
I walked over to him in front of everyone. “Why would you still want it?” I asked.
“Because it still has its value” he responded.
Yes. Regardless of what the world does to try and break us, we still retain the same value we had when God created us and set us on this earth.
And we’re worth a whole lot more than $20.
Before I entered the church, I said a little prayer, specifically asking God to show me which kid to give the money to. That’s the hard thing about the game. I only have one $20 bill and the crowd can turn ugly if I keep it for myself.
God was faithful, as always. After I finished speaking to the kids… and giving that sweet boy his money… his mother came up to me.
“He’s going to ask a girl to the Homecoming dance tonight after religion classes,” she confided.
Several minutes later, the boy walked up to thank me for the money. “Did she say yes?” I asked.
He smiled and nodded. “I’m gonna use the money to buy our tickets.”
“I’m so glad I could take you to Homecoming” I said with a wink.
I sure hope he knows this was all God’s doing and not mine. And may we all remember how priceless we truly are.