Power Verses…… “Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourself long enough to lend a helping hand." (Philippians 2:3,4 "The Message" Translation.)

As the global financial crisis stutters on, are you still troubled about your investments, pension and savings? Still looking for a ‘safer haven’ until the storm passes by?

Allow me to divert your attention for a short time by relating a story about a young boy by the name of Teddy Stollard. He was not the kind of kid who was at the top of the invite list to parties. He slouched in his chair, looked bored most of his waking hours; he only spoke when called on, and then in monosyllables. He never dressed right; he had smelly clothes, in fact he was a rather an unattractive boy.
Whenever his teacher would mark Teddy’s homework or exam papers, she got a certain perverse pleasure out of marking all the wrong answers. She almost enjoyed giving him a big red “F” on the top of his work. Sadly his teacher should have really known better, because his year by year reports and his personal history were on record:

 First grade:      Teddy is a good boy and shows promise, but has a poor home situation.

Second grade:  Teddy is quiet and withdrawn. His mother is terminally ill.

Third grade:     Teddy is falling behind. His mother died this year, his father shows no interest.

Fourth grade:  Teddy is hopelessly backward. His father has moved away; Teddy lives with an aunt. He is deeply troubled.

 Christmas came, and all the children brought presents to school. They were carefully wrapped, except for Teddy’s, which was packaged in brown paper and held together with tape and marked, “For Miss Thompson from Teddy.”
The teacher would open the gifts one by one for the class to admire. When she opened Teddy’s, it was a rhinestone bracelet with most of the stones missing, and a bottle of perfume that was only a quarter full. The other children, as children do, started to laugh, but Miss Thompson, in an attempt to salvage the situation snapped on the bracelet, and said, “Isn’t it lovely class? And doesn’t the perfume smell good?”
At the end of the class, Teddy approached her shyly. “I’m glad you liked the gifts, Miss Thompson, he whispered. “All day long you smelled like my mother, and the bracelet looked nice on you too.”
After he left, Miss Thompson put her head down on the desk and cried. She prayed asking God to forgive her. She prayed that God would help her to see what He sees when she looks at a motherless boy.
When the children came back to school the next day, Miss Thompson was a new teacher. She tutored the children who needed extra help, but Teddy was given the most attention. By the end of the year he had caught up with most of his classmates and was ahead of some. After that year, she didn’t hear from him. Then one day, out of the blue, she received a note:

 Dear Miss Thompson,
I want you to be the first to know I am graduating from high school, and I am second in my class.
Love, Teddy Stollard

 Four years later came another note:
Dear Miss Thompson,
I want you to be the first to know I am graduating first in my class. The university has not been easy but I liked it.
Love, Teddy Stollard

Four years later, another note:
Dear Miss Thompson,
I want you to be the first to know that as of today I am Theodore J. Stollard, M.D. How about that? I want you to come to my graduation and sit where my mother would have sat, because you’re the nearest thing to family I have ever had.
Love, Teddy Stollard

 Teddy Stollard is representative of countless thousands of successful people around the world who owe their success in life to someone who could see beyond their low self esteem, their loneliness, and their lack of love, and decided to invest time, talent and love into their lives in order to give them a real chance in life.

Now that’s what I call a “Blue Chip Investment.”
An investment that will continue to pay dividends for generations.

 The story is told of an occasion when Mother Teresa was teaching a young member of her community who came from a well-to-do family on how to care for the poor and the dying on the streets of Calcutta. She said that when you see people on the streets, filled with disease, disfigured with sores, covered with maggots, touch them very gently with great love and delicate care, the way a priest handles the elements of holy mass, because Jesus is present in the distressing disguise.

 Jesus said, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40)

 Resolve today, to start investing in people.
Our communities are crying out for investor!