What's In Your Hand?
WHAT’S THAT IN YOUR HAND?
In an article titled “His Eye is on the Sparrow,” Jerry Jenkins, co-author of the best-selling “Left Behind” prophetic fiction book series, introduced his readers to Dameon Sharkey, a seventh grader, whose compassion and faith should be an example to us all.
Dameon’s physical education teacher, Jeff Leeland, was going through the toughest time of his life. His son, Michael, had been diagnosed with Leukemia and without a bone marrow transplant wasn’t likely to survive. Michael’s seven-year-old sister, Amy, proved to be a perfect match but Jeff and Kristi Leeland’s insurance refused to cover the $200,000 cost of this lifesaving procedure until after a waiting period of a year and Michael wasn’t expected to live that long. In the absence of insurance coverage, the hospital required a $175,000 deposit to proceed with the transplant, an amount the Leelands didn’t have and couldn’t borrow.
Then young Dameon got involved. Dameon told his mother he wanted to empty his savings account and give it all to Mr. Leeland to save Michael’s life. When she called Jeff to tell him of Dameon’s desire, he tried to decline the offer but Dameon had made up his mind and before long he was placing twelve crumpled five dollar bills in his protesting teacher’s hand, an act of love and generosity that would catch on and save Michael’s life.
When the news of Dameon’s gift became known a fund was started at the school for Michael’s transplant and within four weeks it had grown from Dameon’s sixty dollar donation to $220,000. Amy donated her bone marrow and the operation proceeded.
Michael survived the procedure and became cancer free. Dameon wasn’t the first to give up what was in his hand and see it produce a miracle!
Thousands of years earlier, Moses stood near a burning bush in the desert of Midian listening to a call to go to Egypt and lead his people out of slavery. Then this future great leader began to make excuses.
“Who am I that I should go?” he asked. “They will not believe me.”
“What is that in your hand?” asked a voice from the fire.
“A rod,” Moses replied; his answer accentuating how little he had in his hand and how ill equipped he felt for the great task being assigned to him (Exodus 4:2).
Yet Moses’s rod would later be called the rod of God. He would raise it and the Red Sea would open for his people to escape those who wanted to enslave them again (Exodus 14).
He would strike a rock with that rod and refreshing water would flow in the desert to enable these former slaves to drink and keep moving forward.
Centuries later, after the disciples of our Lord had run out of ideas about how to feed five thousand hungry people on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, an unnamed boy gave up his meager lunch of fish and bread and saw it become enough to feed this hungry multitude and have twelve full baskets left over (John 6).
We all have something in our hands to give. And there are too many needy people awaiting our help to keep what we have to ourselves; too many problems to solve for us to hold back from helping; too many who need to know what it means to trust God and walk with Him every day to remain silent.
What’s that in your hand? Are you willing to release it to make a difference?
Roger Campbell was an author, a broadcaster and columnist who was a pastor for 22 years. A new book containing over one hundred of his best columns, “Everywhere You Go There’s a Zacchaeus Up a Tree,” is now available at your local or online bookseller. Contact us at rcministry@ameritech.net
