Sample Story

(Bruce breaks it down)

Here is a sample of how we can Spot the Sacred in our everyday lives.  I hope it helps as you begin to cultivate the discipline. 

Bruce Main and Jeaneen on her graduation day

Jeaneen

Step One: Spotting the Sacred

            I was feeling particularly low.  It was late Friday afternoon.  The staff had left for the weekend and I was immobilized as I sat at my desk reflecting on the previous five days. It had been a terrible week for fundraising.  I needed $45,000 just to meet the next week’s payroll, but I had only managed to raise $3,000. How would I tell my dedicated, hard working staff that they weren’t going to get paid?  I was fighting back a major case of discouragement.

            There was a vigorous knock at my office door. “Come in,” I said wearily.

            “Jeaneen!”  She entered with a wide, familiar smile. Jeaneen was a young woman who had been in our youth programs for many years.  After nearly dropping out of public school, she reluctantly enrolled in our Alternative High School Program—a school for underachieving teens.  But after turning things around and graduating with honors, Jeaneen managed to put herself through Virginia State University in three years. Now in a few weeks she would be graduating with her Master’s from Kean University.  From drop out to Master’s Degree in five years—that was something shy of a miracle. 

            To make that happen, Jeaneen lived at home to save money which required a three hour commute to graduate school. She cut back on frivolous spending so she could make her loan payments.  Obviously she was very disciplined. 

            “I wanted to give you a little something,” she said through her great smile.  “I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for UrbanPromise.”

            “You know I never can turn down a gift,” I replied with a wink. 

            We chatted about her upcoming graduation, while she pulled out her check book and thoughtfully started to write.  She looked so poised, so mature, so adult, not at all like the ninth grader who used to hide in the back row of the Gospel Choir just so no one would call on her.  We reminisced a bit more, and then said our goodbyes, wishing each other a great weekend.

            I didn’t think to look at the check.  After all, I needed $45,000.  Ten or twenty dollars from Jeaneen was not going to make a difference.  But I unfolded it anyway and near fell out of my chair.  $1,000.

            For some people a $1,000 isn’t such a big deal.  For this young woman it was everything.  It was a sacrifice.  I knew she did not have it to give.  But even if she did, Jeaneen was giving something up that would have made her life a little easier—maybe ten months of school loan payments, a get-a-way to Florida, or helping her mother with rent for the month.    

Step Two: Applying the Jesus Lens

            I have known millionaires who have never written a thousand dollar check to a charity.  I know wealthy people who would never think to make a sacrifice to help others.  I don’t know too many graduate students who would risk their financial security by giving away their nest egg.  But Jeaneen did. 

            My reaction to the Jeaneen’s gift was two-fold:  first, I had this overwhelming certainty that I would raise the $45,000 I needed to make payroll.  It was like a little reminder from God that all was going to be okay.  If a kid believed enough in this ministry to give so much, so sacrificially, somehow we would make it.  Jeaneen’s witness was a gift from God. 

            My second reaction was that Jeaneen was little different than the widow Jesus noticed in the Temple; the one who dropped in her last two coins.  The widow relinquished her control by putting herself in a position of total dependence on God.  And for this reason Jesus upheld her as an example to follow.  A no-name widow is immortalized by Jesus so generations can grow and learn from her witness.  She got it!  In some mysterious way the widow demonstrated the heart of God.

            Is Jeaneen any different?  If Jesus had been walking outside my office that Friday afternoon, would he not have stopped and singled out this young woman?  Would he not have pointed to his followers and said, “Look, she’s done something extraordinary!  Learn from her!” 

Step Three:  Digest & Share

            For the whole weekend I thought about this encounter.  It burrowed its way into my heart and challenged me deeply.  I thought about my own giving.  Do I share like Jeaneen?  Am I holding back my resources because they give me a sense of security?  Was I willing to forego some of my material expectations and share with others?  I had seen the widow’s mite reenacted in my midst and I could not turn my back on it. 

            That next Tuesday I was at our Board Meeting.  As usual we talked about our current financial situation.  We talked about our fundraising efforts.  We talked about the advice our fundraising consultants had given us.  We talked about how we could potentially make cuts to our programs, even though the lives of poor children would be diminished because we did not have the funds to keep the programs going.  But just before the meeting came to a close I decided to share Jeaneen’s story with the Board.  They all were touched by the story.  I saw tears.

            As I was driving home after the meeting, I turned on my cell phone.  Someone had left a message, one of my Board members.

            “Thanks for sharing that story tonight, Bruce,” began the recorded voice. “I needed to hear it.  I want you to know that I’ll be increasing my giving by ten times this next year.”  I knew a 10 fold increase from this particular donor would solve many of our financial concerns.

            Six months of consultants, revised appeal letters, new fundraising strategies, flashier brochures—none of these efforts produced a response like the story of Jeaneen.  Her witness had touched the heart of one of my Board. In the presence of this young woman’s sacrifice, his heart had been freed to give more lavishly and freely.

            Just like the story of the widow in the Temple, Jeaneen’s story continues to be told to those who will listen.  It continues to convict, to challenge, to encourage and to move people’s heart to a place of greater freedom.  Jeaneen’s witness continues to speak to me.

            I believe this is the point of Spotting the Sacred.  When we notice these extraordinary acts in the midst of our ordinary lives, we, and others, are nudged towards a more intimate communion with the God of Love.