A Chance to Give

Daniel wanted to serve Jesus and please Him. For several weeks now when he woke up he would kneel to pray. This morning Daniel was in a rush and it was the picture of Jesus knocking at the door that reminded him. Oh, he thought, I almost forgot! Kneeling beside his bed Daniel could imagine Jesus standing there, waiting to talk to him. “Dear Lord,” he prayed, “help me obey and listen to You today. For Jesus’ sake, amen.”

All day Daniel was busy helping Chad outside and playing with his sisters. It wasn’t until Dad called him in for devotions that Daniel thought of his prayer. He sat down quietly with his Bible and looked again at the picture of Jesus knocking. I’d better listen carefully, because the Bible is like Jesus talking to us, he thought. I wonder what He wants to say?

That evening Dad read a verse in Proverbs about giving to the poor. “Poor people are those that don’t have the things they need,” he said. Daniel knew there were people that didn’t have food or a house to live in. It must be hard for them, he thought, remembering how he had been afraid they would be poor when Dad lost his job. But God had taken care of them.

“The Lord has blessed us with food, and shelter, and strength,” Dad was saying. “We need His love in our hearts to really care about the needy people around us. Then we will be ready to give when the chance comes.” How can I give to poor people? Daniel wondered, as they knelt down together. I don’t have much, but maybe I can save up. Giving will be fun!

In the next few days Daniel came up with many ideas of what he could do. There was a newspaper route he could get nearby to earn some money, or maybe they could get rid of their extra stuff and have a big yard sale. Rosie liked that idea and was pulling things out of the closet when big-sister Irene stopped them.

“The house needs to be cleaned, not messed up,” she said. Mother told them that, too.

“Maybe we can think of it later, but for now you have chores to do.”

Daniel felt glum as he vacuumed the floor. How could he give when he didn’t have any chance? Rosie was more cheerful. “Let’s work hard and then maybe we can do something.”

Daniel didn’t answer, but he thought of Dad’s words: “We need God’s love in our hearts to really care.” He whispered a little prayer for help: Dear Jesus, help me be loving and know how to give. I want to be ready when the chance comes.

It was that very afternoon that his chance came. They had gone to town, and on the way home Mom took them to the park for a treat. “Yippee!” Daniel hollered as he took off across the green grass toward the play set. “Race you, Chad!” It was when they came panting up to the drinking fountain that Daniel saw the boy in the wheelchair.

“Hello,” Daniel said, not knowing what to do. Handicapped people always seemed strange.

“Hi,” said the boy in a slow, sad voice. He looked sort of hunched sitting there, and Daniel wondered what it would be like to never run or play like everyone else. What does he do all day? Daniel asked himself as he climbed the tallest slide. It probably isn’t very fun for him in the park.

Whoosh! Daniel felt a rush of air as he started sliding faster and faster. What fun it was! In a second he had landed with a bump at the bottom. When he looked around he saw that the boy in the wheelchair was watching him.

A voice whispered, He is lonely. Why don’t you go over and cheer him up? Daniel stood looking at the boy for a minute, wondering what he could even say. I will try! he said to himself. And Jesus will help me.

“Do you live near here?” Daniel asked, walking over to where the boy sat.

“Yeah,” the boy said, and sighed. “But it’s not very fun, so we don’t come much.”

“It must be kind of hard just watching,” Daniel said slowly. “What do you like to do?”

“Well, I have this friend that usually plays baseball with me, but he’s on vacation.”

“I like baseball,” Daniel said quickly.

“I didn’t bring my bat and ball today.”

Daniel thought a minute. “Do you like to read?” he asked, remembering his library books in the car. “I have a really nice one on airplanes.”

The boy smiled slowly. “Okay.”

Daniel ran off for the book, and was soon sitting in the shade with his new friend. They studied the old gliders and read about the Wright Brothers’ first flying machine.

“Wouldn’t that have been great? Just imagine being the first people to fly!” the boy said excitedly, and Daniel grinned.

“Have you ever been in an airplane?” he asked, as they turned the pages to the airliners and high-speed jets.

The boy nodded. “Just once, and it was great! Have you?” Daniel shook his head. “We were going to Florida,” the boy continued, “and I got to sit by the window. Wow! Everything looks really different from the air.”

It seemed all too soon when Mother called that it was time to go. “Good-bye,” Daniel said, as he picked up the book and got to his feet. “That was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” the boy agreed. “Thanks.”

“That boy really liked the airplane book,” Daniel told Mom on the way home. “I’m glad I got it.”

“And I’m happy to see you sharing. That was a wonderful opportunity to give to the poor, wasn’t it?”

Daniel looked up, surprised. “That boy didn’t look poor.”

“He was handicapped and lonely, and you made a difference by caring about him,” Mom said.

“I guess so,” Daniel said slowly, and he felt very happy. He had listened to Jesus and his chance had come.