What can you do? Yea I am talking to you.

What can one person do? Nothing, not much, a little or a lot. It all depends on the person. What can you do to make just one person's life just a little bit better? Open your eyes, the opportunity to help those in need are all around us if we take the time to look. At my church we are participating in the angel tree program. It is a great program to make sure at least two gifts are given to a child whose parent is in prison.

If you could touch one child's life by giving them a Christmas gift, wouldn't you do that? I don't any extra money for that kind of stuff, I just maxed out my Visa card on a new plasma TV.

What about visiting a senior home and just spending a half hour talking or just listening to a lonely person? I don't want to visit some crusty old person in a nursing home, they smell funny.

How about dropping your spare change into the Salvation Army kettle? I told you, I don't have any spare money.

Could you look through your closets for any old coats or blankets that you don't use and donate them? Hey what's mine is mine Jack, besides that cool leather coat will fit me again after I loose that 40 pounds I have been working on for 10 years.

Ok, can you at least write a letter or call someone you lost touch with, just to say Merry Christmas? I doubt it, I'm awful busy this time of year.

Never mind.

For everyone else out there, the first step is just looking, it doesn't cost a dime. Find a local group you think does good work, what ever your idea of good work is there is someone out there doing it and they could use your help. Call them or just stop in and say 'you guys do good work', you will probably be greeted with a smile and an invitation to join in doing the good work.

I posted this story last year, but I just love the last line so much I must post it again.

Now, let me conclude by telling you a true story I heard this summer that continues to haunt me for a variety of reasons- many of them related to these remarks. My wife and I heard a speaker at Chautauqua tell the story of a friend of his who happened to be a priest. They had been friends for many years but in recent years they have been living a couple of hours apart and therefore didn't get to see each other very often. But, still they stayed in touch.
In his parish the priest had organized a hunger center and apparently they specialized in providing sandwiches for the homeless and for those who needed a meal. I believe it was referred to as the "sandwich ministry".

Fairly recently the speaker had learned that the priest was suffering from a serious and fatal disease. Indeed, he knew and everyone else knew that his death was very near. The speaker wanted to see his friend one last time so he arranged to visit him. They spent a good day together and the speaker had an opportunity to see the "sandwich ministry" and was very impressed by it. When he returned home he wrote a note to the priest and included with it a check to support the sandwich ministry.

Within a few days two things happened. First, the speaker learned that his friend, the priest, had in fact died. But, second, at that same time he received an envelope in the mail with the name and address of the priest as the return address. Clearly the priest had written whatever was inside just before he died.

The speaker opened the envelope and unfolded the letter. As he did so, the check he had written and sent to the priest fell out and onto the floor. When he looked at what the priest had written just before he died, he read these words: "Make your own damn sandwiches."