President's Update - April 2012

 

Giving So I Can Keep

Every man goes down to his death bearing in His hands only what he has given away 
~ Ancient Persian proverb
I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess
~ Martin Luther
The miracle is this—the more we share, the more we have
~ Leonard Nimoy
The same principle popping up in three very different eras, cultures and worldviews—there must be something going on here, right?
I am highly fortunate to see that principle -–giving things away so you can keep them---played out in our work here at the Bowery Mission everyday. Here’s how it works:
Sitting at the Mission for dinner recently with my wife, we fell to talking to a gentle and quiet 20 year-old young man. In his short life he had seen both his parents die when he was very young, his elder sister try to take care of him, only to get shot and die when he was 10; an older grandmother struggle to cope with his bad behavior and die, leaving this young man to series of group homes, imprisonment for theft and finally sleeping on subway trains in New York. All before he was 20—a troubled but highly intelligent person who landed at the Bowery Mission two months ago and had his life turned around.
I began thinking about “giving to keep” in his case—how the food donated from Whole Foods Market up the block that would have gone into the dumpster, instead attracted a hungry young man to the Mission. Thinking about the young volunteers that served him with a smile, they could have been at home using that same block of time to play video games, but instead converted that time into value. And the generous people who paid the salaries of the staff who are teaching him life skills and giving him the love he never had. All these assets which could have been spent, have been converted into permanent change in a life.
Isn’t it great that in this great City where so many chase what they’ll never be able to keep, there are people like you who are on the path to lasting satisfaction—giving to keep? Thank you!
Missionary Jim Elliot said:
     “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”


"Every man goes down to his death bearing in His hands only what he has given away." - Ancient Persian proverb


"I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess." - Martin Luther


"The miracle is this—the more we share, the more we have." - Leonard Nimoy

 

Ed Morgan, President and CEO of The Bowery Mission and Kids With A Promise at the Administrative Offices.

The same principle popping up in three very different eras, cultures and worldviews — there must be something going on here, right?

I am highly fortunate to see that principle — giving things away so you can keep them — played out in our work here at The Bowery Mission everyday. Here’s how it works:

Sitting at the Mission for dinner recently with my wife, we fell to talking to a gentle and quiet 20 year-old young man. In his short life he had seen both his parents die when he was very young, his elder sister try to take care of him, only to get shot and die when he was 10; an older grandmother struggle to cope with his bad behavior and die, leaving this young man to series of group homes, imprisonment for theft and finally sleeping on subway trains in New York. All before he was 20—a troubled but highly intelligent person who landed at The Bowery Mission two months ago and had his life turned around.

I began thinking about “giving to keep” in his case — how the food donated from Whole Foods Market up the block that would have gone into the dumpster, instead attracted a hungry young man to the Mission. Thinking about the young volunteers that served him with a smile, they could have been at home using that same block of time to play video games, but instead converted that time into value. And the generous people who paid the salaries of the staff who are teaching him life skills and giving him the love he never had. All these assets which could have been spent, have been converted into permanent change in a life.

Isn’t it great that in this great city where so many chase what they’ll never be able to keep, there are people like you who are on the path to lasting satisfaction — giving to keep? Thank you!

Missionary Jim Elliot said:

     “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”