IN THE POOL COMMUNITY…
Chris DjKaoss Payne wrote to me a month or two back, and I was busy enough I only took a second to decide I didn’t have enough time to actually think about what he wrote.
You know sometimes you make a mental provisional decision, a snap decision you’re trying on for size to see if you can live with it.
I made that decision against Chris, figuring I was swamped in orders and barely having enough time to properly love on my dog and whisper sweet nothings to the Mrs, how am I gonna afford the time to help this man out?
And have you seen the price of eggs, Brother?
Anyhow, the Lord started working on me right away.
I take great care to ensure my hair doesn’t get tangled in a lathe. I don’t want to die. I wear a gas mask the instant I smell anything other than air. I don’t want to die. I quit riding my four wheeler drunk and stoned (as much) since I rolled it on top of myself twice in four minutes. I don’t want to die.
And like I said, I’m busy. I’m twelve hours a day, my feet on concrete busy. Too damn old busy. (Thank you very much, I love and appreciate you all).
Exactly, says the Lord. Now take all that away and pretend you are Chris, for one minute, and decide if you want to help your brother.
So I spent a minute and read his story. https://www.wmbfnews.com/2023/12/06/myrtle-beach-man-searching-vital-organ-donations-stay-alive/?fbclid=IwAR3EE5AAsqpqe62wzO-x5VhGvluUmTQZjyOcnbPlFCWiolrhMC-3PVuMu1U
Then I learned about the event he’s planning and what he needs:
“9 ball Scotch Doubles tournament. 64 teams.
The proposed date is Sunday, March 31st.
I am going to buy 6 plaques for 1st 2nd 3rd place.
I’d like to give a big prize as well. 1 Production cue to each 1st place winner. A cue case to each 2nd place winner and maybe a gift certificate for a billiard store for 3rd place winners.
All teams will get one free entry to the small raffle. I’d like things like Chalk, Chalk holders, cue holders, tip tools, shapers, apparel, pocket markers, coin holders, etc…”
I decided to provide him a cue. It’s going to be a whopper. The Lord’s been working on me mightily, I think the saying is.
I spent a lot of years as an economics junkie. I was a financial planner/securities rep for 20 years. CLU, ChFC, CKA. I wrote a book about and did a small radio program for a short while about our financial lives from a biblical point of view, and I think we’re doing it all wrong. Upside down wrong. Empty-souled wrong. Setting us up for failure wrong.
Christ’s command that we love one another should inform how we do business with one another. We should seek our brother’s gain as much as our own; that is, we should truly seek win-wins and shared discomforts, so that every business transaction is well considered and intentionally seeking the best for all. I think love should be the motive behind business, not profit. And to the degree we control prices, and not markets, that we should not choose to profit greatly, as that simply means we have taken more from our buyers than we needed. We should price our labor or products to keep ourselves reliant on God, and trust our neighbors need their dollars as much as we need ours.
That’s the sort of mindset that will either get a man ripped to shreds or protected by the Almighty. I’m going to see. And if God prospers Character Cues, I want to live like LeTourneau, who gave back 90% of his income.
We live in a fallen world, and it’s damn hard to keep the proper focus on the mote in my eye, instead of my neighbor’s.
But that’s the only way the world changes.
Anyhow, with my heart already having been instructed, when I saw Chris’s information I immediately understood why God urged me to look at it again.
Every day our lives are opportunities to show sacrificial love. Every single day we have dozens of chances to love the world as much as God loves it, sacrificially.
To demonstrate that while we struggle to provide for our own, we also take every chance to expand “our own” to cover our brothers and sisters who truly need our help.
I don’t know about you, but if I don’t consciously try to do good things for others, I won’t.
I’m urging you to love your brother sacrificially. Set your life aside a moment. Read his story and see if God doesn’t prompt you with an idea.
Thank you all.
Clayton Lindemuth, Author
PS– Here’s his FB page: https://www.facebook.com/chrispayne8055
PSS– Here’s an easy way to show support. Join and participate in Chris’s new cue raffle group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1915553035535696/?ref=share
