BY WILLIAM J. HENSON
COUPLE YEARS AGO I DECIDED TO retire; you know, really retire.
I had served as an officer in the Air Force for 23 years, then as a state worker
for various states for about 10 years. Now it was time to "really retire."
My neighborhood needed me. I had read on a church bulletin board the words "The
best argument for a living Christ is a living Christian." I told my wife,
Nancy, "I'm going to finally get to know our neighbors and show them how
helpful I can be."
A Willing Neighbor
The first tasks were a snap. I helped a neighbor shovel snow until his driveway
was cleared. Then another neighbor needed help hauling some hay for her new
horse. Another neighbor asked me to haul some wood for him. My telephone was
always ringing. Being a good neighbor was turning out to be fun.
Several weeks went by, and one of our neighbors, whom I had
not met, called. "Hi, Bill," he said. "I hear you know about
computers. Someone told me that you had built your own computer. Is that true?"
"Yes, George," I replied, "I enjoy working on
computers."
"Well, I have this computer that I'm trying to get running,
but it won't work. Can you help?"
"I'll be glad to come over and take a look," I said.
Several days went by, and finally I had time to "look"
at George's computer. As I began to examine it I noticed that all of the components
were at least 15 years old. The hard drive was small, the motherboard was outdated,
and the case and power supply were old and worn. I asked George if he owned
another computer, and he replied, "Yes, we have a new one, but I wanted
to get this one operating so that our daughter can have one for her schoolwork."
My initial examination of this computer told me that the components
were too old and worn to be of any use, and I explained this to George. He replied,
"We don't have money for a new one. I guess Bree will have to wait. She's
in the third grade. We might be able to afford one next year."
Going the Second Mile
I went home thinking of George's situation. Bree's sad brown eyes kept haunting
me. Most of the night I was restless, but by morning I had decided what I would
do. At breakfast I confided to Nancy that I was going to help George out with
his problem and make Bree happy. I felt really good about it.
In about a week the new motherboard and CPU arrived. I had a
new case that I had been saving for another project, but this is for a worthy
cause, I mused as I began to assemble all of the parts. A hard drive, floppy
disk drive, CD-ROM, and a video card were also added. Things were coming together
nicely. After all the parts were assembled, I powered up the unit, and it hummed.
A couple days later I took the completed unit over to George's
house. Bree was happy, but George seemed to have lost some of his initial interest
in the project. He said, "Well, now that you have that done, how about
a new CD burner and hard drive for my other computer?"
I was too stunned to say anything.
Until then all the "help projects" in our neighborhood
had been accepted with great appreciation by those receiving them. I didn't
know what to think. Later I asked Nancy what she thought about it. She said,
"Well, you know how George is, don't you?"
"What do you mean?"
She replied, "Other neighbors have complained that George
manipulates them into doing things for him and buying things for him."
"They do have a nice house," I reflected.
Questions for Reflection
or for Use in Your Small Group
1. What are your favorite community service activities? What
talents or spiritual gifts do you use when you're involved in helping others?
2. When have you felt tension between what you feel called
and equipped to do and those who may be taking advantage of your willingness
to help? How did you resolve it?
3. Describe situations in which a person ultimately may be
harmed by your desire to do them a favor?
4. Besides wanting to reflect God's love, what other motives
might lead you to help someone in need? Which motives are noble; which are less
so?
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"Oh, they don't seem to need money," my wife observed.
"Well, what should I do?" I asked. "I don't want
to hurt his feelings or make him think I'm not a Christian."
A couple more days went by. George called me several times and
asked when I was going to get to his new CD burner and hard drive. I didn't
know what to do. My wife and I had been reading the Bible through for our morning
devotions, and we were in the Gospel of John, where Jesus spoke about Judas
with the words "One of you is a devil!" (John 6:70, NIV).
As Nancy and I talked about this we wondered why Jesus would
allow a man such as Judas to be so close to Him, knowing that he (Judas) was
so evil. I remembered reading in the book The Desire of Ages how Judas
seemed to manipulate every situation that he and the other disciples were in
to his advantage. Being the treasurer of the group, he would frequently take
small sums in his care for his own use. But in spite of it all, Jesus did not
shun or rebuke Judas, and the other disciples looked up to Judas and admired
him (see The Desire of Ages, pp. 717, 718).
What Would Jesus Do?
The following Monday (after much prayer) I completed the work that George asked
me to do for him, free of charge. That evening I asked Nancy, "What am
I going to do with George?" She just smiled.
Several days went by, and the phone rang. Nancy answered it.
"Hello? Yes, this is Bill's wife. Yes, he's here."
Nancy turned to me. "Dear, George is on the line."
"What does he want?"
"It seems that the gate to his house is broken. He thinks
it'll cost about $300."
_________________________
William J. Henson and his wife, Nancy, live in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with their
dog, Woo, and two cats.
