Money

Sitting next to me on a plane in the airport in Miami, a man who told me he worked for the former GM president Charles Wilson as a manager of his yacht. Knowing that I had a beach house in Wrightsville Beach, NC, he told me that the yacht traveling from Miami to NY was always put in at Wrightsville Beach, because the Wilson’s had a home at Ashville in the mountains and a car would come down and pick them up from the yacht. So, one afternoon he called, came by my house for a short visit, before the yacht was to proceed up the coast. I had heard about the lifestyle of the “rich and famous”, the former president of GM and his wife, not only had the yacht but a house in Miami, a house in Asheville, and a house in upstate NY. Very senile, they just travel from place to place, all houses fully staffed, he said, “they don’t need much attention, just something mostly pretty to eat”, “when her cat gets under the bed and will not come out she cries and we have problems”. This shows again not only the lifestyle of rich people but the emptiness at the end of the road when relationships have not been made. This is the importance of having something towards the end other then money.

After my mothers death, I would call my father that I was coming up to the farm to visit and take him out to eat. My driver , an older black man, would always say, “He will be sitting on the front porch waiting for you”. Before my mothers death, my sister, her only daughter, knowing she was coming home for the weekend, said when she came around the curb of the road, she could always see her standing behind the glass door in the kitchen, watching and waiting.

In my collection of wonderful paintings and prints I own the one, “The waiting Welcome”, which shows a mother and daughter looking intently out at the sea waiting for the sight of a returning ship. Along the river here in this historic port city, the old historic homes have balcony’s at the top where women over the years, have watched for the return of sailing and steam ships. Such is the importance of establishing relationships, more important, then the accumulation of money.

Leona Helmsley, wife of Harry Helmsley, real estate and hotel tycoon, was a billionaire real estate and hotel owner. Several times married before capturing the Helmsley empire, when died in recent years, left 12 million dollars to her dog “Trouble”. She did not leave anything at all to two of her grandchildren but left 10 million each to two grandchildren with the stipulation that they must visit their grandfathers grave once a year.

I owned a co-op apartment in Manhattan for many years, which I used when their. At one reception, I met one of the Vice Presidents of her company and he said she was “a demon from hell”, obsessive compulsive, she could spot a flower in a cup flower arrangement across the room which did not fit exactly into her idea of a bouquet.

Many of these “money” people who have evidently had few relationships with family or friends, have neglected the most important relationship, their relationship with God. You cannot negotiate with God with money. “The cattle on a thousand hills are his”. (Psalms 50:10) The highest form of worship is our giving to God. We are responsible to Him, He owns everything we have. In the Old Testament, under law, requires 10% (tithe), but, under grace, we are responsible for 100%. YOU CANNOT OUT GIVE GOD.

This countries wealthiest president was its first president George Washington. When you have seen the expanse of lawn around Mount Vernon and studied his land “holdings” you realize that the millionaires in congress today, millionaires that have sought the presidency, the 800 or so billionaires in our nation today, cannot be compared to the wealth and patriotism of the father of this great nation.

Every time I take a shower, I thank God for running water, inside plumbing, because I realize how many of my ancestors who fought for and helped build this great nation, never had a decent bath. Most of today’s young people have never seen a “well bucket” or ”hand pump”, they have never seen a “wash board” or “wash pot”.

Even the poorest citizens in America live better than even the wealthiest citizens in third world countries a few decades ago. The poorest people in this country live better then 90% of the worlds population. If you have a house to live in, a change of clothing, food in the refrigerator or pantry, you live better then 90% of the worlds population. If you have a car, some money in the bank, you live better then 92% of the worlds population. I have known people who are poor and have a greater lust for money then people who are already rich.

This is the only country in the world in which people from other countries ( Mexico, Cuba, Etc) will risk life and limb (trying to float in an old car built into a boat or through a dangerous tunnel under the ground), to have a chance for success and wealth, they think that this country affords and does, in most cases, afford. Even the new Mexican arrivals in this country, will work all day in a low paying job or two, and then cook tortillas at night to sell to their fellow workers for lunch. This is called, “getting ahead the hard way, working for it”.

My father, would work on a tractor until midnight on Friday night on a large farm, get up early and milk cows, feed hogs, etc and be at a barber shop in town when it opened at 8 o’clock to stand on his feet and cut hair all day on Saturday. He could find more work for himself and me to do on a rainy day then most men could on a sunny day. But this is the reason, he never had to take anything from the government. He died a wealthy man. His children were all college educated, at his, not the governments, expense.

Those of you with eyesight have wealth which you cannot imagine, to see the beauty and color of a flower, the foliage of trees, the scenery landscape of rivers and mountains. I am very thankful that I did see these things before blindness (I am a totally blind 100% disabled service connected veteran). You should know, there are things money cannot buy. The Queen of England is worth a reported 3 trillion dollars. They are 86,400 seconds in a day. The richest person in the world and the poorest person in the world have the same number of seconds. At the end of your last day, no matter how much money you have you cannot buy one more second, not even the Queen of England.

I saw a good example of the comparison of money, as a young college student, working in a large cemetery. On a Sunday afternoon, their were burials of two babies, one baby belonged to the owner of a large automobile dealership in West Memphis, Arkansas, the babies gold casket was brought to the cemeteries mausoleum in an expensive hearse. On the other side of the cemetery where graves were cheap, a small cheap casket was brought to the cemetery in a Pick up truck. The grief’s of these two mothers could not be estimated both had lost a small baby and were grief stricken. Money made a change in their living conditions, but their mental anguish was the same.

It must be depressing to think of reporting our stewardship to almighty God and we hear the admonition, you were so blessed with so much money, yet, 34,000 children died everyday from disease and starvation. We will leave this world, as we came, with empty hands. Whether using these hands for the giving of money or using these hands in the voting booth, our compassion for the greatest of God’s creation will be uppermost in His mind and should be in our mind. To think that 63 million babies have been slaughtered in the abortion mills in this country since 1973 (1400 black babies everyday), and yet over 50% of the population (54% of Catholics voting pro-choice) support this 20th century holocaust. As the doctor said to Lord Macbeth, in Shakespeare’s play, “God have mercy on all of us”.