The Gift of Money

"Money is nothing more than a tool. It can be a force for good, a force for evil, or simply be idle." Thus says the quote at the beginning of our next chapter. Red gives Jason the task to learning about the value of money by giving him $1,500.00 to help 5 strangers. He tells Jason that "All the money in the world won't buy you one more day of life. .... To you money has always seemed like the air that we breathe. There's always more." Because Jason has no idea how a little bit of money can help or change some one's life he must go and give the money away. Once he gives people the money they can focus on real and important issues in their world.


Jason returns at the end of the month and gives the stories of the 5 people he helped with the $1,500.00 and how he even put in $300.00 of his own money to good use. We begin to see even more of a change of heart in Jason as he makes it successfully through another gift. Similar to what Red had Jason do I have heard before where people are given an amount of money at church or something else and told that they can not spend it on themselves but make some one's day. This one particular story told of how when church let out one day they were each given an envelope with $10. The pastor told them before they left to use it for another. One person said that when they were in the Starbucks drive through they gave the cashier the $10.00 and said to pay for as many drinks as it would cover behind her in the line. Just think of what that did for that person (s) that received that unexpected gift. Even a small gesture such as this can brighten some one's outlook on life.

Jason doesn't know the value of money and Red is right to give him the lesson. So often today kids do think that credit/debit cards and ATM's are a money tree and that their parents are made out of it. I think this would be a neat lesson to teach those still learning such as a youth group what the difference money can make when it's shared. Thank you for reading. Next time, Chapter 5, The gift of friends.