God's Coaching #302

God's Coaching #302

Sports cards collectors make millions of dollars every year selling baseball cards. In 2007, a near-mint-condition Honus Wagner card from the early 1900s sold for $$28 million. That’s a lot of money for ink and cardboard! More recently in 2010, a Honus Wagner baseball card was donated to the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Baltimore, Maryland. The nuns decided to sell the card—which wasn’t in the best shape—and donate the money to ministries in 35 countries around the world.

Honus was one of the best players in the history of the game. The Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop was one of the first five inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Dallas-based Heritage Auctions sold the card for $220,000 to a doctor in Philadelphia who has been collecting sports memorabilia for 30 years.

What’s the Score?

When the brother of a nun died in 2010, he left the Honus Wagner card to the School Sisters of Notre Dame. They found the card in a safe-deposit box with a note that said, “Although damaged, the value of this baseball card should increase exponentially throughout the 21st century.” Instead of giving the valuable baseball card to family, the owner donated it to charity. And when the nuns sold it for about a quarter of a million dollars, they were able to help people around the world.

In the Old Testament, God commanded landowners not to harvest the grain on the edges of their fields (Leviticus 23:22). This grain was left so needy people could easily pick it up and have something to eat. God wanted his people to provide for the poor.

The same is true today. God wants his followers to be generous.

On the Ball

Do you have anything that you could give to the less fortunate in your community? Maybe you have some toys you don’t play with or clothes you’ve outgrown. With a parent’s help, go through your room and find some things that you could give away.

Coach’s Comment

When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 23:22