Cash In Pocket

My room is still cold at times! This is from September 22, 2014. My classroom is cold. Sometimes it's very cold and sometimes intolerably cold. Actually, I don't mind and I like it on the chilly side- must be my Nebraska roots. We have two AC systems on my hall and adjoining rooms can be alternately freezing and stifling hot. It's interesting that the hotter it is outside, the lower the temperature in my room, and the hotter it is outside, the less likely the kids are to bring their school-issued coats. A number of years ago, I began collecting WCS jackets and hanging them in my room. Any student who is cold may simply grab one off of a hangar and put it back at the end of the period. I'm also popular with former students who stop by for a one class loaner. Maybe I should charge- great mission trip fundraiser!

This past Friday was test day for my three Gospels sections and you guessed it, my room was frigid. Lyanne came in and put on a letterman's jacket that was left behind by an athlete who didn't graduate with us. (She also grabbed the teddy bear I keep in my room as she habitually does, perhaps for moral support on her grades!) As we reviewed, Lyanne put her hand up. To warm her hands, she had put them in the pockets of the coat and to her surprise, discovered some money in the left hand pouch.
"Coach, there's money in this jacket."
She brought it to me. It wasn't a great deal of cash, only a one dollar bill and two quarters. I remembered Tiata, another young lady in Lyanne's class, had worn that jacket the day before and the money did indeed belong to her. Lyanne returned the buck fifty to the rightful owner. No big deal.

But it is a big deal. I asked some of my other classes what the normal reaction would be to finding money under those circumstances and the general answer was along the lines of Finders/Keepers. I don't know much about Lyanne's family- I know her parents are immigrants from The Philippines and I taught her brother, Lance. But even without meeting them, I can tell you this- they have instilled a high moral code in their youngest child that is a way of life and not just a matter of convenience. In Luke 16:10, as a postscript to the Parable Of the Dishonest Manager, Jesus told His listeners that, 
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."
You know what that makes Lyanne? A billionaire in my book. And I like books with happy endings.

Applicable quote of the day:
"Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you."
 Oscar Wilde

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com