People Are Good

I’ve known Alex for four years. He is 24 years old, has cerebral palsy, and is one of our Women’s Club food delivery recipients. Each time I deliver food, we spend an hour or so talking. “If you could go anywhere in the world,” I asked him several times, “where would you go?” His answer was always the same: St. Petersburg, Russia.

Last year he graduated from university with honors. For his extraordinary achievement he received plane tickets for two to St. Petersburg—a gift from a family that had heard about him through the food delivery program.

Alex was beside himself with happiness—so much so that he couldn’t sleep at night. Neither could his mother, who worried about where the money for all of the other trip expenses would come from. Four days in St. Petersburg could cost as much as several months at home, and she didn’t have that kind of savings.

They were looking into shared-accommodation possibilities when the manager of the St. PetersburgMarriott Hotel heard about Alex and offered them a complimentary room for their entire stay, breakfast included, as well as transfers to and from the airport.

A director at my husband’s company organized and paid for a private tour of the city, as well as visits to the Hermitage Museum, one of the finest art museums in the world, and Peterhof, the summer palace of Peter the Great. Memories for a lifetime!

People are good. People want to do good. If a few individuals who didn’t even know each other could make such a difference to Alex, how much more can we do when we unite with the clear purpose of changing lives for the better?

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A man was walking near a beach when he saw a boy bend over, pick something up, and throw it into the ocean. Over and over the boy did this. The man went to see what was going on, and found that countless starfish had been washed onto the beach by the tide. Struck by the apparent futility of the task the boy had taken on, the man said, “You must be crazy! There are hundreds and hundreds of starfish here. You can’t possibly make a difference.” But the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back in the ocean. “I made a difference to that one,” he replied.

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Colossians 3:17 ESV – And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Galatians 6:9 ESV – And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Hebrews 10:24 ESV – And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,