Twenty Dollar Theology
I have come to believe that all life is a journey in which we are supposed to learn certain things. If we don’t get it the first, or second, or third time, it will come to us a fourth and fifth and so on. I quickly admit that I spent the first 57 years of my life not realizing this, then I spent 3 years of my life insane, but once I “woke up” the last three years have been filled with miracles. Sometimes, like the Lobster Hat Man in Maui, it was a big deal, sometimes, like last week it has been a gentle reminder of the path I need to stay on.
So anyway, here is the story. Last week we went to Philadelphia for a concert and some museum time. We stayed in South Philadelphia and very early one morning I went down to the lobby for free coffee. Sitting next to the pot, was a crumpled up newspaper section that seemed to be published only in South Philly. Desperate for reading material to rinse down the coffee, I grabbed the remnant of paper and sat down to read, but quickly discovered it contained only one complete article. It was a column apparently written by a local minister. With a large amount of paraphrasing, this is the article.

How many people out there would like me to give them a crisp new twenty dollar bill? I bet most of you. But what if I wrinkle it up? Step on it? Get some mud on it? Wear down the corners? What if I get it soaking wet and when it dries out it looks all worn and beat up?
Still want it? Of course, because no matter how hard it was used, it still has a value of twenty dollars. It doesn’t lose its value.
But how many of you feel like you have lost your value? How many of you feel “not good enough”? Maybe you have been “used hard and put away wet”. Maybe “friends” or coworkers have told you, you weren’t good enough. Maybe family members have thrown you away.
As you read this, remember that twenty dollar bill. In God’s eyes you were born with great value. Nothing that has happened to you, no matter how beaten up, no matter how bent, no matter how unworthy you feel can ever lesson your value. And if God sees you that way, guess what? All those other people are just wrong. Go and celebrate the value that is you.