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6:35:00 PM PST
THANKSGIVING DAY FOR YOU, SECRET SANTA
23 November 2006
My friend, Aimer, had sent me an email about generosity and kindness. She thought I might like the story she provided a link to; "Grave Illness Unmasks Generous ‘Secret Santa’. I did enjoy the story, very much indeed, Aimer. Thank you!
After reading the story, published on 17 November 2006, which you can find in the archives of AOL news, I went to the AOL message board where ‘Secret Santa’ is presented again. I read the large number of postings which resulted from this story. There are hundreds of replies. The responses continue to poor in to the message boards. But one posting, which gained the most attention and responses was a message titled; "HOMELESS ARE THE SCUM OF SOCIETY!!!" Overwhelmingly, this single posting drew more replies than any of the other messages which at the time I first read the board about ‘Secret Santa", was climbing well into the thousands.
The news story is about a man named, Larry Stewart, the "Secret Santa" who gave away millions of dollars to the needy around the country for some 26 years. This man, who deserves our prayers and thanks today, has fallen upon a grave illness which threatens his life. He gave to those in need, many were homeless due to natural or terrorist disasters of catastrophe magnitudes. 911 in New York. Hurricanes in Florida. Hurricanes and floods in Louisiana and Mississippi. Wild fires in California. He gave to many charities along the way. And more. The story even mentions about his being in Washington D.C. when it was being victimized by the serial snipers. The story and the message board are must reads for those looking for spiritual inspirations and inside views of what others think.
Following the words of Jesus, Mr. Stewart gave to those in need, anonymously, never drawing attention or publicity to himself through his acts of kindness and generosity. He managed his secrecy for 26 years as he touched the hearts of the unfortunate people, all victims of tragedy. Be that tragedy a terrorist attack, natural disaster, a financial collapse, a disease-stricken reason or some other cause for those people to be on the streets homeless, or simply poor, or in need. Mr. Stewart did not judge. They were all needy. He served his kindness upon them. And silently left as quickly as he came.
He gave. He shared. He showed kindness. He loved. He showed others, who never knew who or what he was, only that he cared. He showed them that there were people like himself out there that do care for those in need. He did everything he could to avoid drawing personal attention to himself, yet he touched the lives and hearts of people everywhere. He managed to do his secret, good deed for nearly three decades.
Today I pray for Larry Stewart and ask God to send the angles to look over him. I pray the Secret Santa fully recovers from his illness. I thank Jesus for people like Mr. Stewart. I also pray for those unfortunate people around the world who have fallen on hard times. I pray that their tomorrow may be better than their today. God Bless them all, and God Bless Mr. Stewart for his kindness and generosity. God Bless him for his love. I thank him on this Thanksgiving Day for his being there to help all those in need that he has over the years.
He who has lost everything, has nothing, except Jesus. And Jesus is all that he really needs. For with Jesus, one can survive anything. Jesus is our buckler, the One who shields us from harms way. The One who will send someone to help us in our hour of need. Someone like Mister Stewart.
A prayer for forgiveness, an appeal for compassion:
Remember, O Lord, what is come: consider, and behold our reproach.
Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are widows. – Lamentations 5:1-3
Thanks for joining me. God Bless you all.
And always remember, JESUS LOVES YOU!
http://journals.aol.com/riversharki/JESUSLOVESYOU/
RIVER
Las Vegas, Nevada
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Again, profound entry. I think about why God says not to boast and I realized many years ago that whats true in the heart gets revealed when we say nothing. So much of what we do is to impress others so we can recieve recognition. When we give and its just about the person, we can get so much from that. Takes time to feel the blessing in our secret deeds but its pretty cool. I wrote an article about the homeless...if interested...~Raven
http://journals.aol.com/rebuketheworld/RebukeTheWorld/entri es/2006/10/23/courage-promises -an-reflection-of-the-grand-lo veliness-in-hope-if-wiped-with -im-worthy./1566
12/28/06 1:37 AM
You are so right about not blowing your trumpet as God says when giving. Secret Santa knew that. Also what a lot of people miss, is we are suppose to pray "in the closet". Praying for ourselves we should do in private. Praying for others can be done publically, church, funerals, web, etc. Many miss that.
I really hope Secret Santa recovers. He is such a great guy and it was all because someone gave him $20 once when he was down and out.