Yesterday, I met a middle-school boy—Grady was his name, and this young fellow was distraught.  He had lost something, and he was searching.  Verbally Searching. Grady unashamedly asked most everyone he approached the question that would restore to him what was lost.

“Have you seen my twenty-dollar bill?  It’s folded vertically.”

You see, Grady, a boy of about the age of thirteen knew exactly what he had and what he had lost.  Grady knew the power the twenty-dollar bill had provided him, and once it was lost, Grady knew exactly the truth of what had been lost.  So Grady searched for that which he knew could be found, if only he diligently searched, walking aisle-by-aisle, searching the floor, stopping to ask strangers and friends.

I did not know Grady (personally), but my daughter did, and she spoke about Grady’s trustworthiness.  As we shopped for groceries, Grady searched too;  as we found what we needed and placed the items within our cart, Grady’s hands remained empty as he wrung his hands, hopeful that what he looked for would magically appear where he once walked.

As we shopped, I did not really see Grady because he moved quickly, searching the floor and the faces of people as he searched for his lost twenty.  Yet, I heard my daughter’s voice as she spoke of Grady, of his trustworthiness, of his honesty, of his faithfulness to always do the task placed before him.  You see, she knew Grady’s character;  they had shared time together:  she as the substitute teacher and Grady as the middle-school boy.  She knew Grady and Grady knew her, and so she knew the pain Grady felt as he searched.

It was my daughter’s testimony of Grady’s character that caused my action.

It was my daughter’s witness of truth that caused me to believe.

The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away—we are not in control.

The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY—HE is in control.

God supplies and provides all that we will ever need.  God has given me a career, a job, and as I complete my work, God has provided funds for my bank account.

I knew that I had a twenty-dollar bill within my wallet.

I knew that I would not miss this twenty-dollar bill, folded and resting there.

“For all things belong to you,” [all things belong to God].  He had given me the twenty, and Grady had lost his twenty.  I could make another twenty because of the blessing of a job, a career, a way to return the twenty to my wallet; however, Grady was a middle-school boy without a career, without a job, and without his twenty-dollar bill—for it was lost.

I had a choice, an easy choice really.  Share my folded twenty with Grady or walk away and leave him searching the grocery store floor.

It was an easy decision, so as I opened my wallet to retrieve my card needed to pay for our groceries, I found my folded twenty resting just where I left it—secure and held tightly there, un-lost.

An easy choice to pull my twenty from the wallet and lay it there on the register counter, saying aloud, “Give my twenty to Grady.”

My daughter left me at the cash register, walking an aisle where she had last seen Grady searching.

As I completed the task of paying for our groceries, I knew that the right thing had been done, giving to Grady what God had so graciously given to me.  It was an easy decision—sharing with another of the LORD’S GOOD GIFTS.

“all things belong to you, [all things belong to God]

and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”

“All things” MEANS ALL THINGS!

BELIEVERS HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO SHARE WHAT THEY HAVE RECEIVED BY GOD’S GRACE.

OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE IS THE RESPONSIBILITY TO SHARE WITH OTHERS THE “GOSPEL,” THE “GOOD NEWS” OF SALVATION THROUGH JESUS.

Are we willing to share, to give away what has been so graciously given to us?

Are we willing to open our mouths, open our hearts, open our wallets, open our homes, and even open ourselves—so that others may come to know and to receive what God has provided for us to receive?

Grady’s lost twenty had much to teach me.

I remember his eyes as minutes later, when we were already seated in my daughter’s vehicle, Grady came running into the parking lot, looking for my daughter, holding the twenty-dollar bill clutched in his fist.  At first, I thought, “Oh, he must have found his lost twenty,” but that was not to be.  Instead, as my daughter lowered her driver’s-side window, Grady exclaimed, “My mom doesn’t want me to keep your twenty.”

Looking around my daughter into Grady’s face, I heard her ask and I heard Grady’s response.  His twenty had not been found.

What he held tightly in his fist was the twenty-dollar bill God had provided for me, that same twenty God had prompted me to give away, to give to this young, middle-school boy.  So, it was with that realization, I knew of only one response.

Looking into Grady’s face for the very first time, I said, “It is yours now; this twenty-dollar bill now belongs to you.  Do with it what you want.  Keep it.  Spend it.  Or Give it away, but it belongs to you.”