Reese Osterberg, like a lot of 9-year-old girls, loves baseball. The love of her favorite sport drove her to collect baseball cards. But when the largest wildfire in California’s history forced her family to evacuate, her baseball cards were left behind. The fire devoured the cards along with the rest of their home.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) was raising funds for fire survivors when they shared Osterberg’s story over the radio. Kevin Ashford of San Jose was listening that day, and when he heard about the young girl’s story, he was moved to act. Ashford called Cal Fire to donate his burgeoning baseball card collection--25,000 cards strong--to Osterberg and her family.

Ashford told CNN, "I had initially planned on selling my cards on eBay. But when I thought about the smile I could put on that little girl's face; it was an easy decision. I felt compelled to donate the cards to her."

Members of the Cal Fire team delivered the collection in person to the Osterbergs, which prompted young Reese to respond by giving some of them away to her friends and baseball teammates. Reese said, "When someone does something nice for you, it's important to do nice things for other people, too.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

When we open our hearts and our material possessions to those who are in need, we are not only acting as the hands of feet of Jesus to others, but we are also actively ministering to Jesus himself.