Tag: plan ahead

Pay It Forward

Pay It Forward
 
Recently my wife and I were in a drive thru at Starbucks. There was a long line and it took a few minutes to get our food and drinks. But when we pulled up to the window to pay, the employee told us the person in the car in front of us had paid for our order. We couldn’t believe it. A total stranger paid for our coffee and snacks!
 
You have heard similar stories. You may have been the one who paid for the person in the car behind you at the drive thru at McDonalds or Starbucks. Or a stranger may have paid for your food and coffee. We use the phrase Pay It Forward to describe this kind of giving to other people. People doing something for those who come after them.
 
Another example of paying it forward is the citrus tree in our back yard. I shared in previous article how my wife and I enjoy the beautiful tasty Navel Oranges that grow in our backyard each year. We did not plant the tree. The previous homeowner did. We continue to enjoy the benefits from his simple act of planting a tree many years ago.
 
There are many other examples of this in our state. Men like John Muir and Henry Cowell took action to preserve the Yosemite Valley and the coastal redwoods for generations who came after them. And we are glad they did.
 
Maybe we need to be thinking and looking further ahead for things we can do now that will benefit future generations. It might be as simple as planting a fruit tree in your back yard. It might be starting a college savings account for your grandchildren. It might be conserving more water so your kids and grandkids have enough for their generation. You may not personally benefit in your lifetime but your children, grandchildren and future generations will!
 
There is a passage in the Bible that says, “One plants and another waters but God makes it grow” (First Corinthians 3:5-9). The Apostle Paul was referring to planting new churches across the Roman Empire. His pioneering work impacted future generations as he shared the good news about Jesus. What can you do today to impact future generations? Let me encourage you to talk with your children and grandchildren about how you can do something to Pay It Forward. Why not plant a fruit tree with them in your yard – not just to benefit yourselves but to benefit the future homeowners too!  Why not pay for the coffee in the car behind you at Starbucks? You will be glad you did and they will too!

You can read 365 more articles and stories by the author in his book “Let Me Encourage You” by Mark Hopper. You can purchase two copies for only $30 plus postage ($5) one for yourself and one to share with a friend. Order your copies at markh@efreedb.org.

Going to College


When I was a senior in high school, I didn’t know much about going to college. I did apply and was accepted at three schools – BIOLA University in southern California, George Washington University in Washington, DC, and Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. I had only visited one of those three schools. I really didn’t know much about going to college.
 
Now I encourage parents to start preparing their children for college long before they graduate from high school. I recommend they take their teens to the college fair on their high school campus and to various college campuses when they are freshman in high school. Find the library, eat in the cafeteria, walk across the quad and see a college campus personally. I also encourage prospective collegians to spend a weekend on a college campus open house and to attend a graduation at the school. When our children were in high school several of them attended the graduation ceremony of our youth pastor, his wife and some other friends. I think this planted a seed in their hearts and helped them see what it would be like to attend and graduate from that university.
 
I attended graduate school at Dallas Seminary. It was a four year program after college. One of the requirements for all students was to attend graduation every year. In fact students were fined if they did not come to the graduation ceremony. I think the real reason they required us to attend every graduation was to remind us why we were studying so hard. Keep the goal in sight.
 
In Bible times, the Jewish people were instructed to attend three holiday gatherings every year  – Passover, Pentecost and Booths. This was to remind them of the roots of their faith and to encourage them to grow in their relationship with God (Deuteronomy 16:16).
 
I realize every student does not need to go to college. We need skilled men and women in many vocations, trades and technologies. But let me encourage you to plant some college seeds in the hearts of your children and teens. Take them to a college campus when they are starting high school not when they are almost finished. Let them see what it might be like to go to college. They will be glad you did and you will too.

Read more by the author in his book – Let Me Encourage You – 365 articles and stories (one for every day of the year). The New Year’s Sale price is two books for $30 plus postage. Order your copies at markh@efreedb.org.