Thought for the Day 9/15/2023

Friday Tale - the Ripple Effect 

Shortly before his death, 80-year-old farmer Hody Childress asked his daughter to continue a practice he’d quietly conducted for years: taking a $100 bill to a local pharmacist on the first of every month. For years, Childress anonymously came to the aid of neighbors in Geraldine, Alabama, who couldn’t afford medications. “Don’t tell a soul where the money came from,” he instructed store owner Brooke Walker. “If they ask, just tell them it’s a blessing from the Lord.” 

Thanks to the farmer’s generosity, Walker could fill prescriptions for about 24 uninsured or underinsured people each year. “I was honored he allowed me to do that,” she said, “and it really encouraged me to do the same in my life.” 

Childress wasn’t wealthy but “always gave what he could,” said daughter Tania Nix. “I think he felt like he couldn’t not give,” she added. “Giving that way, that just got on his heart.” After word spread about Childress’ generosity, other people were inspired to perform stealth outreach and a fund was established in his name. 

A man in Oklahoma who shares Childress’ surname said a story about the farmer caught his attention. They’re probably not related, he wrote, but he’d feel proud if they were. “A man like that surely tried to follow the example of Jesus,” the Oklahoman wrote, and “[his] story inspires me to be a better man.”
~ adapted from The Wired Word 

In everything set them an example by doing what is good.
~ Titus 2:7