Daily Lesson for September 13, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Kings chapter 17 verses 8 through 16:

8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9‘Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.’ 10So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.’ 11As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.’ 12But she said, ‘As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.’ 13Elijah said to her, ‘Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ 15She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days.16The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

There are always stories of deeply inspiring people, who despite having very little themselves, choose nevertheless to share. We can think of this widow at Zarephath, or the widow with the one coin she gave to the Temple, or the little boy who shared his lunch at the feeding of the 5,000. 

I think of my friend Ray Fargason, who was undergoing blood marrow/stem cell treatment  for cancer and whose critically low white blood count was being supplanted by donations from friends. But another patient in a room down the hall had a white blood count even lower and more critical than Ray's. And, his white blood cells and Ray's were a match. The doctors came in, explained to Ray the desperate circumstance of the other patient, and asked if Ray would be willing to give his up for the sake of the other's sake. They also explained to him that it would be several hours before another match could be flown in from another city. In the meantime, he would be at grave risk should he need more. It was his choice. 

Ray said he just knew he could not say no. He had to say yes, which he did. 

Then he realized he had to call his wife Gayle and tell her what he had done . . .

It is one thing -- and a very necessary one -- to give out of our abundance. But to give out of poverty. That is beyond simply beyond words. 

The widow at Zarephath was beyond words. So was Ray.