I will never forget a woman who came to the food pantry at our church. She also needed a little money to pay her next month's rent. When she came into my office, it was obvious her front teeth had been broken out. When I asked what happened, she said her boyfriend, Freddy, had knocked her teeth out.

I said, "He must not be a very nice man."

She said, "Oh yes, Freddy is a nice man. He loves me and cares for me." Then she asked me for half-a-month's rent. Our church happened to have enough money to help her out, so I gave her the money. This surprised her.

She said, "So often when I ask churches for money, they don't give me much help." Then she added something I will never forget. She said, "You know, it's interesting to me how it's mostly poor people who help poor people. The rich people really don't."

The statement indicted me a bit because I thought of all the times we had spent vast amounts of money to put on huge choir programs and then said we didn't have enough money to feed the poor. I wonder if God was very impressed with our disclaimers.