Are You Giving Without Expectations?

One of my favorite bands growing up was called Buffalo Springfield. If you’re too young to know this band, you’d at least remember a song that gets played under many circumstances today, called “For What It’s Worth.” The signature line in the chorus is “Stop, hey, what’s that sound, everybody look what’s going down.”

It was sort of a protest anthem in the late 1960s and 70s, and it has appeared in countless movie soundtracks since then (most notably that classic scene in Tropic Thunder, or you may remember it in Forrest Gump).

It has stood the test of time.

I was with one of the members of Buffalo Springfield on a humanitarian trip to help install water filtration systems in slum areas of the Dominican Republic a few years ago. Richie Furay was one of the founding members of the band, along with Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Dewey Martin, and Bruce Palmer.

Richie had gone on to be in other bands like Poco, and the Souther/Hillman/Furay band. He became a believer in his rock and roll days, and now is the pastor of Calvary Chapel church in Boulder, Colorado. He also leads the worship band there. Do I need to even tell you how great that band is?

In one of the communities we visited, a basketball game broke out.

Richie had to sit on the sidelines, though.

He was in some pain because he needed a hip replacement.

All that jumping around in clubs and arenas on stage for a few decades takes its toll. So I’m told. And the bouncing roads in the van all day hadn’t helped.

But while he sat on a bench, a little Dominican boy—I’d guess he was 10—came to him and opened up a bag of marbles in his small hand. He looked expectantly at Richie, as if to say, “Wanna play?” and he got on the ground. They didn’t speak each other’s language, but Richie couldn’t turn down that offer. So he struggled to ease himself off of the bench and onto the ground.

They had a marvelous game of marbles.

Finally, though, Richie’s hip stiffened from the hard surface. It bothered him so much that he had to stop. He struggled to get to his feet and back on the bench. He thanked the boy, and the boy returned to his friends.

A few minutes later, though, the boy came back over to Richie and held out the bag again, with the same expectant face. Richie rubbed the top of the boy’s head and said in English, “No, I can’t play any more. Thank you!”

The boy seemed very sad at this and went back to his buddies who were standing nearby. It appeared to Richie that they were making fun of the boy after getting rejected by the American.

Richie called our translator over.

He said, “Please tell that little guy that my hip hurts too much to play any more. Tell him thank you for the game. I had lots of fun. But that’s all I can do.”

The translator went over to the boy and talked to him. He came back shaking his head. “Richie, that boy didn’t want to play some more. He wanted to give you his marbles.”

In places where you least expect it, there’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.

Have you ever had a gift change your perspective? Do you make it a habit to give, even when you don’t get anything in return?

Are You Giving Without Expectations? is a post from: Storyline Blog