Ken Edwards, Senior Pastor

Quint was always there on Sundays, attending Sunday school and worship. He’d been there all his life. As he advanced in years, his step was a little slower, but his faithfulness never waned. He would come over to the church during the week and do little things around the church like replacing a switch plate that was broken or replacing the air conditioner filters. He taught me to write the dates on the filters so I would know when the month had passed and the filter needed to be changed. He would volunteer to deliver Meals on Wheels on Tuesdays, and he would set up tables for the older ladies to sew and play cards on Thursdays. He had served on every committee and board in the church. He was kind and humble and well respected by all ages in the church and he had a broad smile and warm sense of humor that could brighten a dark room.

One Tuesday when he had returned from delivering meals, he stepped in my office and asked if I had a moment to talk. I always had time for him, and his presence in my office was always a source of encouragement.  He stepped inside and shut the door and said, “My wife and I finished preparing our taxes last night.” I replied, “Well you are way ahead of me; we haven’t even thought about taxes.” He continued, “When we calculated our giving to the church, we discovered that we had given 30% of our income to the church last year.” It was not like him to brag and his tone sounded more concerned than proud. I responded, “That’s amazing and really sacrificial of both of you.”

He said, “That’s my point. We never sacrificed. We never missed a meal and we took several nice trips. We didn’t lack for anything, and we didn’t realize we had given that much. We never sacrificed. Well, that’s all I had to say.” And he left my office.

I’ve thought about that visit many times over the years and wondered what I was supposed to learn from it. We give to and through the church out of our faithfulness to God, and one day on this journey of faith it becomes second nature to us. We don’t pause to calculate the costs (until we have to prepare our taxes). Over these weeks when we have been pondering what it means to live God’s dream for the world, I suspect God’s dream includes people like Quint who live generously because that’s who they have become as followers of Christ.