| A Coincidence?
 I
was very proud of my daughter Emily. At only 9 years
old, she had been carefully saving her allowance money
all year and trying to earn extra money by doing small
jobs around the neighborhood. Emily was determined
to save enough to buy a girl's mountain bike, an item
for which she'd been longing for. She'd been faithfully
putting her money away since the beginning of the
year.
"How are you doing, honey?" I asked soon
after Thanksgiving. I knew she had hoped to have all
the money she needed by the end of the year. "I
have forty nine dollars, Daddy," she said. "I'm
not sure if I'm going to make." "You've
worked so hard," I said encouragingly. "Keep
it up. But you know that you can have your pick from
my bicycle collection" "Thanks Daddy. But
your bikes are so old." I smiled to myself because
I knew she was right. As a collector of vintage bicycles,
all my girls' bikes were 1950's models--not the kind
a kid would choose today.
When the Christmas season arrived, Emily and I went
comparison shopping and she saw several less expensive
bikes for which she thought she'd have to settle.
As we left one store, she noticed a Salvation Army
volunteer ringing his bell by a big kettle. "Can
we give them something Daddy?" She asked. "Sorry,
I'm out of change," I replied.
She continued to work hard all through December;
it seemed she might make her goal after all. Then
suddenly one day, she came downstairs to the kitchen
and made an announcement to her mother.
"Mom," she said hesitantly, "You know
all the money I've been saving?" "Yes dear,"
smiled my wife Diane. "God told me to give it
to the poor people." Diane knelt down to Emily's
level. "That's a very kind thought sweetheart.
But you've been saving all year. Maybe you could give
some of it." Emily shook her head vigorously.
"God said all."
 When
we saw how serious she was, we gave her various suggestions
about where she could contribute. But Emily had received
specific instructions, and so one cold Sunday morning
before Christmas, with little fanfare, she handed
her total savings of $58 to a surprised and grateful
Salvation Army volunteer.
Moved by Emily's selflessness, I suddenly noticed
that a local car dealer
was collecting used bicycles to refurbish and give
to poor children for
Christmas. And I realized that if my nine-year-old
daughter could give
away all her money, I could certainly give up one
bike from my collection.
As I picked up a shiny but old-fashioned kid's bike
from the line in the
garage, it seemed as if a second bicycle in the line
took on a glow. Should
I give a second bike? No, certainly this one would
be enough. But as I got
to my car, I couldn't shake the feeling that I should
donate that second
bike as well. If Emily could follow Heavenly instructions,
I decided I
could too. I turned back and loaded the second bike
into the trunk, then
took off to the dealership.
When I delivered the bikes, the car dealer thanked
me and said, "You're
making two kids very happy, Mr. Koper. And here are
your tickets."
"Tickets?" I asked. "Yes. For each
bike donated, we're giving away one
chance to win a brand new man's 21-speed mountain
bike from a local bike
shop. So here are your tickets for two chances."
Why wasn't I surprised when that second ticket won
the bike? "I can't
believe you won!" Laughed Diane, delighted. "I
didn't," I said. "It's
pretty clear that Emily did."
And why wasn't I surprised when the bike dealer happily
substituted a
gorgeous new girls mountain bike for the man's bike
advertised?
Coincidence? Maybe. I like to think it was God's
way of rewarding a little
girl for a sacrifice beyond her years--while giving
her dad a lesson in
charity and the power of the Lord.
By: Ed Koper
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