Widow

Marilyn Oettinger can't stop thinking about it--and neither can her family. "There she was," says her daughter Margie, "confused, flabbergasted, embarrassed. And this guy rescued her."

She's talking about when her 89-year-old mom went on a grocery run with some other seniors to the Star Market in Auburndale--a rare unassisted trip since losing her husband in July. Things went fine until the checkout line, when Marilyn discovered her only credit card had been canceled two days earlier--because the account was in her late husband's name. "And this amazing person behind her said 'Don't worry. I'll take care of your groceries,'" Margie said.

The bill certainly wasn't meager--it was $109. Marilyn accepted his offer--believing she'd get the guy's contact info and pay him back later. Margie said, “She tried to get his name, but he said 'No. Just say a prayer for me.'" And then--with his good deed done--the fella vanished.

"That gives me the chills," said a woman wheeling a cart from the store. "That's an amazing story. Really cool." A man leaving the store agreed. "You know it makes me happy when someone who doesn't really want the credit gets it. They deserve it, right?"

Indeed, Marilyn’s family is pledging to pay it forward with similar kindness on future trips to the supermarket. But they also reached out on social media, trying to at least get the chance to say a proper "thank you." Margie says, "We're trying to find him. And even if he doesn't want to come forward, we're hoping that he'll know that we're incredibly grateful."

They've already said the prayer--several times. Margie said, “It's amazing to have an angel like that.”

For over half a century, the voice of Oswald Laurence was heard on the Underground Transit System in London. He made a simple but needed public safety announcement, warning passengers to "Mind the gap."

When Oswald passed away in 2007, his widow Margret felt heartbroken and alone. She missed Oswald's love and zest for life. To ease her pain, Margret would visit the Embankment Station, sit on the platform, and listen to her beloved husband's voice saying, “Mind the gap.” Then, one day in September 2012, she sat down, and his voice was gone.

In modernizing their systems, the London Underground officials had replaced Oswald's voice with an electronic recording. Margret was distressed by the change and requested a copy of Oswald's recording, so she could listen to it at home.

When the London Underground staff learned of Margret's story, they were moved by an extraordinary act of compassion and kindness. The staff got past all the red tape, searched through the archives until they found Oswald’s recording, and then had it digitized. It was also decided to continue with Oswald’s recording at the stop nearest to Margret's home. Today, if you find yourself at the Embankment Station on the Northern Line of the London Underground, you will still hear the 1950 recording of Oswald Laurence's voice.

Has that message saved lives? Who knows? But has that message touched at least one life? Absolutely. In fact, that’s why it’s still there. One act of kindness can change a life!

You can watch the short video and hear Oswald’s voice here.

The 61-year-old grandmother was sliding her groceries across the self-checkout at the Woodbury Walmart. Scanner beeping, her total climbing, Sarah Lindgren pulled from her cart a package of steaks. She had counted the money in her wallet. “I just didn't have enough.”

Holding the steaks she’d promised her family for dinner, Sarah made a split-second decision, “I didn’t have enough for them and I just bagged them anyway.” She was walking out of the store when a Walmart employee stopped her. The phone call from Walmart to the Woodbury Police Department was routine.

Sarah had been taken to a room away from other Walmart customers. Her 18-year-old daughter, Danielle, who’d accompanied her to the store, was sobbing when Officer Wagner entered. “Sarah told me her daughter was autistic.” The head of the Lindgren household has a lot on her plate. In addition to Danielle, eight other children and grandchildren live with Sarah. Sarah’s husband had been the family’s provider until his death 15 years ago. She said, “You get to a point where you're drained, you can't even think.”

Wagner wrote Sarah a citation, then returned to his car and ran a background check. Wagner said, “There was nothing. She has fewer speeding tickets than I do. That’s when I decided that she needed help.”

Sarah left the Walmart and drove home with her daughter. Roughly an hour later her phone rang. It was Wagner. Lindgren pictured herself being led away in handcuffs. She thought, “He's coming back to get me.”

He wasn't. Officer Wagner had made a stop at Christian Cupboard Emergency Food Shelf. The volunteers started packing. By the time they were done, boxes, cans, fresh fruits, and vegetables filled the backseat, passenger seat, and trunk of Officer Wagner’s squad car.

Then, Wagner drove to Lindgren's home and knocked on her door. Lindgren said, “I couldn't believe it. I was just overwhelmed, in disbelief.” She also experienced a rush of guilt. Wagner said, “She told me to bring it back. She said, ‘I don't deserve this, I committed a crime.’” Wagner wouldn’t hear of it. The food was delivered to Lindgren’s kitchen.

Wagner had more news for Lindgren. He’d talked to Walmart and voided the citation he had written her. “Throw it in the garbage. God gives us second chances and you've got to take advantage of them.”

After losing her husband, Tinashe Butau of Zimbabwe was now a single mother with four children to feed, and she needed to find a way to provide. When a friend told her about a savings group through a local church, Tinashe saw an opportunity. "I was tired of living from hand to mouth," she says. "The group provided a means out of poverty and beyond living hand to mouth." Hope International shared more about her story on their blog:

Tinashe began putting aside $20 each month. In a group made up of mostly widows and single mothers, the group quickly became a source of deep community and growth for Tinashe. "The Lord has really taken care of us," she says. "He is our husband. And we have each other."

With a loan from the group, Tinashe was able to grow her peanut butter business by purchasing a peanut processing machine, eliminating the cost of paying others to roast and grind her peanuts. As her business has grown, she's been able to employ one of her sons and his wife.

Tinashe also used a group loan to purchase a welding machine from South Africa to start a welding and steel fabrication business in partnership with her other son, who was previously unemployed. She also was able to purchase 10 chickens to produce eggs, as well as a sewing machine to start making children's clothing and school uniforms. In the future, Tinashe hopes to save enough money to obtain her driver's license and a delivery car for her peanut butter business.

Tinashe now helps others by offering discounted products and training others in finances and stewardship. "It doesn't matter how little you think you have; being in a group makes that seemingly insignificant money multiply and opens your life to limitless possibilities," she says. "I have peace and joy, thanks to the savings group."

Imagine a single mom. Her eleven-year-old loves baseball. Personally, she doesn't care about baseball, but because her son loves it, she hasn't missed a game in over two seasons. Sometimes she has to work double shifts to make sure she's free, but when the umpire yells "Play ball!" she's always sitting right behind the dugout, cheering for her boy.

Let's suppose a man begins to date that single mom. Obviously, if he says he loves her, he must love her son. Period. The mom's sphere of concern wraps around her boy's life, and it always will. So if this man wants to tell the single mom that he loves her, without being a liar, he must be right there at the ballgame, beside the mom, cheering for her son. If he loves the mom, he'll love both her son and her son's baseball games.

In the same way, if we care about God's kingdom, we'll love what and who the King loves. For instance, we know that the King loves "orphans and widows," those who are defenseless and vulnerable. If we say we love God, we better be right there at his side loving the orphans and widows of our world.

Sheikha has no idea where or when she was born, though it was about 60 years ago. Her Bedouin family roamed across vast areas of the Middle East. Today, her tribe is forced to live in a fixed location because their nomadic ways are unwelcome by landowners and considered a security threat by governments.

Sheikha's life fell short of the noble designs her parents had for her. Where she lives is not really part of any country. There is barely a government. Fierce fighting flares between Jews and Arabs only a few miles away. On top of all that, the husband with whom she had 6 children abandoned her, leaving Sheikha to fend for herself and a severely disabled daughter.

Though uneducated, Sheikha is resourceful nonetheless. She scraped together all the cash she could, bought a couple of junkyard buses, and had them towed to her village of 1,500 people. Sheikha and her daughter live in one old bus. She wanted to open a little convenience market in the shell of the other. What made her plan work was a loan from a Christian organization called HOPE.

She borrowed the money she needed to fill her shop with practical, small items like soap, school supplies, and basic medicines. It is a great service to the village that didn't have a store, and a great way for Sheikha to make a living. The fact that HOPE is reaching out to her Muslim village makes a big impression. Sheikha said, "I prefer to be with Christians because they feel for the poor who need help. The others didn't look after me, not even my husband."

I hope to grow rich in heaven by taking care of orphans on earth.

I flew to Washington, D.C., a couple of weeks ago, and sitting beside me was a woman probably about 60 years of age. She saw me with my legal pad working on this sermon. She saw at the top the subject "What Children Owe Their Parents." She asked me what I did, and I told her I was a pastor.

She said, "I can't help but say that's a very interesting subject."

I said, "We're having a good time. I'm just sharing with my people concerning the family. Tell me, do you have children?"

"Oh, I have grandchildren," she said.

"When do children feel that they owe something to their parents?" I asked.

She smiled and said, "When they have their own children."