Callie Blue, 29, woke up this past Christmas morning about 4:50 AM.  She had to go to work.  She arrived at her work place, Gus’s Diner in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, about 5:30 AM.

The customer was Michael Johnson, president, and CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County.  The generous tip that Johnson shared with Blue was passed on to her from a “Pay It Forward” campaign generated by the Boys & Girls Club to raise money for those in need.  The campaign raised $100,000 this year.  Two of the donors specified that they wanted their donations to be shared in large tips.  Johnson’s $1,000 tip to Blue was the largest of 12 tips given from the donors.

Blue said that she had "no idea" as to Johnson’s identity prior to meeting him.  She said that she treated him just like she would treat any other customer.  “Customer service is so important and no matter who you’re serving you should treat everyone the same,” she told the Wisconsin State Journal. *

I have a generous offer that I’d like to share with you.  I want to pass it on to you from the greatest Donor of all.  It’s more than a tip; it’s good news that provides wonderful, eternal blessings.

The bad news is that you don’t deserve this gift; none of us deserve it.  We don’t deserve it because we’ve offended the Donor by our words, thoughts, and actions (Romans 3:23).

The Good News is that the Donor loves us and wants to bless us anyway.

The Donor is none other than God, the greatest Giver of all.  Our sin offends Him and separates us from Him (Isaiah 59:1-2).  But He loves us and wants to save us.  So He gave us a Gift.  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV).

In order to save us from our sins and give us eternal life, Jesus had to give His life on the cross for our sins (Romans 5:8; 6:23).

God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He will continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7-9).

We don’t deserve this generous offer, but God wants to give it to us anyway.  If we deserved it, it would be something that we earned.  But because we don’t deserve it, it is uniquely and supremely a gift from God – the gift of His grace (Romans 11:6).  All we have to do is accept it through our trusting obedience.

-- David A. Sargent

* Information gleaned from “Amazing Christmas surprise: Wisconsin waitress gets $1,000 tip” by Christine Rousselle of Fox News, www.foxnews.com.

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

Archived issues of Living Water can be viewed and accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org