Mr. Louie
A few houses down from our house lives an old, Greek gentleman. We know him as “Mr. Louie.” He stands at the end of his driveway, leaning over the gate, hands folded, watching what is taking place in the rest of the neighborhood. Our kids play on the sidewalk frequently - riding their bikes up and down, drawing with chalk. Slowly but surely Mr. Louie, standing, watching them play, developed a soft spot for our children.
One day Mr. Louie came walking down the sidewalk towards our driveway, with a bag of groceries in his hand. He waved to me and called the kids over. “Hey guys! Come look what I got!” The kids rushed over to examine the groceries in the bag. Cookies! Fruit! Pastries! Mr. Louie left the bag with us, waved goodbye, and walked back to his driveway.
A few days later the exact same thing happened. Mr. Louie walked down the sidewalk, called the kids over, let them examine the spoils, left the bag with us, and walked back home.
At first my wife and I were a little concerned. Did Mr. Louie have a hidden, evil motive? But another neighbor of ours, who had lived in neighborhood for much longer than us, reassured us that no, Mr. Louie meant no harm. He did this occasionally. One time, a woman in the neighborhood lost her husband. Mr. Louie gifted her with free groceries for the next year. She said, “She had more melons than she knew what to do with.”
It’s been about nine months since Mr. Louie started giving us free groceries. And incredibly - the frequency has actually increased. Just about every other day Mr. Louie comes walking down the sidewalk, one grocery bag in each hand. Sometimes our kids won’t even be outside. He’ll just call up to our window, “Hey Michael!” All the kids will poke out their heads. He’ll wave and leave the groceries sitting on top of our minivan.
Malachi 3:10
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
The other day Mr. Louie had just dropped off a fresh bag of fruit. I went downstairs, grabbed the groceries off the top of our car, and brought it upstairs. I opened up the fridge and peered inside, trying to find a place to put the new fruit. I couldn’t. Mr. Louie’s groceries had completely filled up our fridge.
My wife decided to take the excess fruit and convert it into jam. She went to target, bought a bulk supply of glass jars, and started boiling down strawberries and blueberries. She’s considering starting an Etsy shop. I told her she should name it “Joy’s Jams.”
All that to say, you can’t out give the Lord. No matter how much you give, he always gives more. He’'ll give so much, you won’t be able to receive it. And praise God for that.
