Doing Good

Matthew 25:35-40 (NLV) “For I was hungry, and you fed me.  I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink.  I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.  I was naked, and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you cared for me.  I was in prison and you visited me.”  Then these righteous ones will reply, “Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you?  Or thirsty and give you something to drink?  Or a stranger and show you hospitality?  Or naked and give you clothing?  When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?”And the King (God) will say, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

As I’ve stated in previous posts the little microcosm of the universe I live in has been wraught with many tragic and untimely deaths over the past 18 months.  Just this past week my little town of Covington unexpectedly experienced 2 more losses as our favorite “telephone company man,” Jr.passed away and then a day later our friendly gas station attendant/self made Licensed Nurse, Laura, lost her 18 year old son when a car went left of center and blindsided her son’s car. 

This post will not dwell on why all this bad crap happens.  Please go to my August 28 blog “Why do bad things happen?”  https://www.eaglelaunch.com/why-do-bad-things-happen for more on that subject. 

A couple of days ago I was reading our local newspaper and read an article about a fund raiser for Cory Monnin.  Cory had been hit while riding his moped this past May and suffered a severe brain injury.  Initially Cory’s prognosis did not look good.  But Cory has fought a valiant fight and has grabbed the hearts of many as we follow his progress on his Caring Bridge website http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/corymonnin/journal.  Cory is a student-athlete at Miami East High School which is one of Covington’s “arch rivals” in athletics. 

Cory Monnin...our courageous brother from Miami East

The fundraiser for Cory took place before last night’s Covington-Miami East football game which was a key game in determining the conference championship.  But what is so cool about this situation is the game was being played at Covington and Covington was holding the fundraiser for Cory!  This is the beauty of living in God’s Country as we all pull for each other in spite of the boundaries created by township and school district lines. 

Yesterday I took a few minutes to speak with the man behind the fundraiser, Glen Hollopeter.  Glen is a Covington native as well as an assistant Buccaneer football coach and local insurance agent.  But what Glen is known best for is his willingness to help raise money to help others.  Glen has probably had more fundraising barbecues for others than I’ve had for my family over the past decade…and I like to cook out.  

When I was speaking with Glen and applauding him for his unselfish disposition he said something that stuck with me and has now taken me 481 words to get to.  He said “Jay-I believe our goal in this life should be focused on what is said at our funeral when we die, and my goal is for someone to say “Glen did a lot of good for others while he walked this earth.”   I said “Glen you are exactly right.”  (Glen didn’t realize he brought tears to my eyes after making that statement because I had my sunglasses on.) 

After speaking with Glen, I proceeded down the street and spoke with Al, the owner of the gas station where Laura worked and I noticed that Al and his wife Deb were raising money as well as giving sales from their business to Laura in order to help her with the tragedy of losing her son.  Once again I teared up as I was overwhelmed with the care this couple was giving to a part-time employee.  

As Al and I talked, there stood Al’s Mom-Lucy and I had flashbacks to 18 months earlier when all of this bullsh#$ in Covington started…when my buddy Joe (Al’s brother and son of Lucy) took his life.  I applauded Al for he and Deb’s efforts and had to quickly exit the gas station as the need to cry overwhelmed me.  

As I sat in my truck with tears in my eyes, a smile came to my heart as I thought about how hard our town was unknowingly fighting off the attack of satan.  Just a month earlier Covington held it’s first ever Herbie-Fuzz 5K run in memory of two of our friends that were a part of this tragic time of loss we have all experienced.  The 5K attracted over 400 runners (mostly Covingtonians) and raised much needed money for cancer research.  (BTW-400 runners at an inaugural 5K in a town of 2500 is unheard of!) 

Inaugural Herbie Fuzz 5K

Here is the deal; Satan and evil are not the cause of bad things happening.  Bad things happening are a part of life and only God knows why…(which is a good reason to do what you need to do to get to heaven so you can ask Him why someday).  BUT…satan and evil love to “try” to make good things bad and bad things even worse.  

What satan is finding out is that the Spirit in Covington is too strong to bend, let alone break.  So my advice to him is to go back to hell where he belongs and we will just keep doing good for others.  Which, as Jesus states in the scripture above, is what we are called to do.

Keep fighting Cory!  And keep doing good Covington! 

P.E.A.C.E. 

jay@eaglelaunch.com

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