Giving Back

I was in a jam. I needed some last-minute changes to a PowerPoint presentation, and it was after hours so all the tech-savvy staff had gone home. Kevin Frank, who graduated in June from the Men’s Recovery Program, came to my rescue. Together we made quite a few changes in the presentation, and I was able to tell the Mission’s story in style. A few days later when I saw Kevin, he thanked me . . . for having faith in him, for trusting him to do the work.

That’s the thing about giving back. It has a two-way benefit. I was blessed but so was Kevin, and that’s the reason we stress the importance of men and women becoming contributing members of society.

Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we were saved for a reason: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” When Christ radically transforms a life, it’s not just about that person. It’s about that person being used to have an impact on someone else. Here’s how the preacher Charles Spurgeon said it: “You are not created anew with so poor a purpose as only your pleasure!”

As you look at the inside spread of this newsletter, notice the ways in which the featured graduates are walking in the good works God has prepared for them. They are working (many of them in service-oriented professions), paying taxes, modeling sobriety, being responsible parents, participating at church, and volunteering in a variety of ways – cutting hair, feeding the hungry, teaching Sunday school, honoring our veterans. They are making a difference, and as you’ll see from their profiles, people who give back end up being healthier themselves.

Through your gifts to the Union Gospel Mission, you are creating a better community – one in which people who once thought they had nothing to give are giving with gusto. Thank you.