I used to lead a life full of coincidences, like a great-great-grandmother-by-marriage who I hadn’t seen in years unexpectedly bypassing two generations to leave me money at a time that I was deeply in debt. And for years I thought we were on a run of great luck when The Empty Stocking Fund met its goal year after year no matter how good or bad the economy.
I’m not much of a fan of coincidence these days, but I’ve discovered many miracles around me in the last 10 years. And one of them is that the people here have never failed to donate enough for the Empty Stocking Fund, which provides Christmas presents and food to thousands of needy people in our area, to meet its annual goal. That’s more than $3 million over 30 years.
The News Herald started it off with a $5,000 donation and Bill Cramer Chevrolet, co-sponsor of the event held for the Salvation Army, will contribute $5,000 when the goal is met.
--- EMPTY STOCKING FUND: LIST OF DONORS, HOW TO DONATE AND TOTAL»»
The not-so-good news is, as of Saturday, the fund was running behind where it was last year at this time: the total Saturday was $94,655.55 compared to $127,035.66 on Dec. 13, 2013.
The good news is when the call has gone out, this community has responded and met the goal, which this year is $175,000.
This is your first call; your community needs you.
When I say that I find it miraculous that this charity has not only sustained for decades but has never failed, I mean it in the sense of how I define a “miracle.”
Two main definitions for miracles are, according to a quick Google search:
• “A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency,” and,
• “A highly improbably or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences.”
I’ve seen things happen for which there is no logical explanation, for sure.
Last weekend a friend and I were planting food plots in the middle of nowhere, my old Ford tractor chugging along just fine, when the disc I was pulling fell askew.
One of the main three bolts that hold the disc to the three-point-hitch had failed, the nut on the end having stripped off. This disc must weigh over 1,000 pounds, two humans can’t move it.
Behind us was a 2-acre food plot, huge, freshly plowed. Somewhere on it was a nut about the size of a quarter and a half-inch thick, and without it we were done.
We could see where the disc first came loose, but could find no nut there. We walked around for a bit hoping against hope, but with all the dirt freshly turned and dark, just like the missing rusty nut, we knew it was pointless.
We headed back toward the tractor.
“It would take a minor miracle to find that thing,” I said. “There it is,” my friend said, not a second later.
I didn’t believe him, but he had stopped walking. We were in the middle of this sea of dirt, and right in front of us was a patch about 12 inches by 12 inches that I had missed with the disc. And in the middle of that nice white patch of untilled soil sat a rusty nut.
We both got goose bumps.
--- EMPTY STOCKING FUND: LIST OF DONORS, HOW TO DONATE AND TOTAL»»
You can call that luck or good fortune or coincidence; I believe it to be divine intervention. I’m not saying God definitely put that nut there for us, I’m saying God does all kinds of things for us that we fail to recognize if we’re not paying attention and I’m willing to believe he had us find that nut at that moment as a reminder.
You can argue that the Empty Stocking Fund has met its goal each year through luck or coincidence or because people just like to give money.
But I believe God is at work here, too. The cool thing is, it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe in the Empty Stocking Fund.
What matters is the call has gone out, and you’ve never let it go unanswered.