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As I walked up the winding road in the mountains of Kentucky, I noticed a
huge contrast; the majestic beauty of God's creation, and the terrible
living conditions of those who made their home there. I was contemplating
the absurdity of this when I finally arrived at my destination: Elvie and
Green Napier's home.
Let me tell you a little about bit about this family. Elvie is a 76-year-old wife and mother. Green, her husband, has Alzheimer's Disease, and her 55-year-old son, Sydney, lives with them and is stricken with cerebral palsy. Their house has 4 sections: a small kitchen, followed by a small bedroom, a storage room for clothes and pictures of their family, and a porch with a swing. The swing is Green's favorite spot to sit, and it is here that I was able to talk with both he and Elvie. I don't know if any of you have ever felt this way, but God really spoke to me about material possessions that afternoon. This family, as most families in this part of Kentucky, have next to nothing, but they still talked to me about how fortunate they were to have what they did. As they saw it, at least they had walls around them, which cut out at least a little bit of the wind; some people don't even have this "luxury." A friend of mine got the chance to talk with Green for a bit and told me that as they sat there, Green teared up and muttered over and over how he couldn't wait to go home, his true home with God. A man who often forgets where he has put things, where he is, and who people are cannot get Jesus and His promises out of his head. I commented to Green how much I liked his Cincinnati Reds baseball cap, and we started to talk about the team a little. All of a sudden, he looked at me and said, "Hat..hat..hat my hat...where's my hat?" He got up, determined to find that hat he spoke of. Finally, with Elvie's help, he took a men's dress hat off the top of his dresser. He pointed inside of it to a tag that said "Goes in the back...always in the back," and then he put it on top of my head. "Want you to have this.." he said. I stood there, stunned and next to tears, not knowing what to say. This man was giving me one of the only nice things he owned and I couldn't help but to think about the widow in Mark 12 who also gave out of poverty. My lesson for that day was learned. "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on." That hat is one of the most precious gifts I've ever received, and I know that Green will receive his reward when he finally does get to go Home. }Jenn Travis |