Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

• 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

• Luke 6:38

“Another thing that annoys me is when people say, ‘Why did you give that man money? He’ll probably go and drink it.’ My reply is, ‘But if I’d kept [it] I should probably have drunk it.’”

• C.S. Lewis, Letters to an American Lady (26 October 1962)

This is between the anniversary of the passing of C.S. Lewis and his birthday.  He passed away one week before his birthday.

C.S. Lewis went to Inkling meetings at a pub, and I do not think he only drank tea.

There are so many warnings about giving to panhandlers these days.  When I was in India, I was told that if you must give to a beggar, walk past the security at the entrance of the hotel and then throw money to the beggars over the guard’s shoulder.  Otherwise, you might be mugged by the countless beggars that you did not give money to.

But not all panhandlers in the USA are in limited means.  I have heard of people in our area driving thirty minutes down the road, parking at a department store and then walking to the area where the panhandlers hang out.  They have old, torn clothes.  They are dirty, unshaven.  And they pretend to be out of work, just to make extra cash on the weekends.

But I have heard about a businessman who had meetings in downtown Atlanta, GA once each year.  That was where the company headquarters was located.  He would go down into the poor area of town where drugged out beggars would beg for a dollar.  He never gave them money, but he would take one man out to dinner.  The two would talk.  Under the right conditions, he would take the man to a department store and buy him a new set of clothes.  That way, he knew the man would not “drink the money.”

I heard of a church in Denver, CO.  They would choose ten homeless men each year.  They would set them up in apartments.  They would give them new clothes.  They would teach them job skills and skills in winning a job interview.  At the end of that year, they were released to make it on their own.  And the church went out to find ten more homeless men.  There were complaints.  Of the ten men each year, they averaged six men who went right back to begging.  Three men, on average, would stay with the job they had received, but otherwise, the church never heard from them again.  And on average, they only had one man who joined the church that had helped him get back on his feet.

The church felt that was a poor return on a sizeable investment.  But it is a better track record than most other programs.  And it meant eternity to the one.

I was not like C.S. Lewis.  I was a teetotaler almost all my life.  I am presently taking medication that requires no alcohol consumption.  I would not be “drinking the money” or it would be a milkshake.  Now a milkshake would be what I would love to drink, and I think a beer might be cheaper these days, not that I ever buy any.

But why do we hesitate in giving in a panhandler situation?  Would the guy buy drugs or alcohol?  Would he cheat us and go off to his million dollar mansion after his day of begging, laughing at all the people that he tricked?  Or would he use the money for food and shelter?

Those are questions for God to answer.  They are above our paygrade.  God rewards us based on what was in our heart when we met the beggar.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.