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The
Rich Family in Church
by Eddie Ogan
I'll
never forget Easter 1946. I was 14, my little sister Ocy was
12, and my older sister Darlene 16. We lived at home with our
mother, and the four of us knew what it was to do without many
things. My dad had died five years
before, leaving Mom with seven school kids to raise and no money.
By 1946 my older sisters were married
and my brothers had left home. A month before Easter the pastor
of our church announced that a special Easter offering would
be taken to help a poor family. He asked everyone to save and
give sacrificially.
When we got home, we talked about
what we could do. We decided to buy 50 pounds of potatoes and
live on them for a month. This would allow us to save $20 of
our grocery money for the offering. When we thought that if we
kept our electric lights turned out as much as possible and didn't
listen to the radio, we'd save money on that month's electric
bill. Darlene got as many house and yard cleaning
jobs as possible, and both of us babysat for everyone we could.
For 15 cents we could buy enough cotton loops to make three pot
holders to sell for $1.
We made $20 on pot holders. That
month was one of the best of our lives. Every day we counted
the money to see how much we had saved. At night we'd sit in
the dark and talk about how the poor family was going to enjoy
having the money the church would give them. We had about 80
people in church, so figured that whatever amount of money we
had to give, the offering would surely be 20 times that much.
After all, every Sunday the pastor had reminded everyone to save
for the sacrificial offering.
The day before Easter, Ocy and
I walked to the grocery store and got the manager to give us
three crisp $20 bills and one $10 bill for all our change. We
ran all the way home to show Mom and Darlene. We had never had
so
much money before. That night we were so excited we could hardly
sleep. We didn't care that we wouldn't have new clothes for Easter;
we had $70 for the sacrificial offering.
We could hardly wait to get to
church! On Sunday morning, rain was pouring. We didn't own an
umbrella, and the church was over a mile from our home, but it
didn't seem to matter how wet we got. Darlene had cardboard in
her shoes to fill the holes. The cardboard came apart, and her
feet got wet. But we sat in church proudly. I heard some teenagers
talking about the Smith girls having on their old dresses. I
looked at them in their new clothes, and I felt rich.
When the sacrificial offering was
taken, we were sitting on the second row from the front. Mom
put in the $10 bill, and each of us kids put in a $20.
As we walked home after church,
we sang all the way. At lunch Mom had a surprise for us. She
had bought a dozen eggs, and we had boiled Easter eggs with our
fried potatoes! Late that afternoon the minister drove up in
his car. Mom went to the door, talked with him for a moment,
and then came back with an envelope in her hand. We asked what
it was, but she didn't say a word. She opened the envelope and
out fell a bunch of money. There were three crisp $20 bills,
one $10 and seventeen $1 bills.
Mom put the money back in the envelope.
We didn't talk, just sat and stared at the floor. We had gone
from feeling like millionaires to feeling like poor white trash.
We kids had such a happy life that we felt sorry for anyone who
didn't have our Mom and Dad for parents and a house full of brothers
and sisters and other kids visiting constantly. We thought it
was fun to share silverware and see whether we got the spoon
or the fork that night. We had two knifes that we passed around
to whoever needed them. I knew we didn't have a lot of things
that other people had, but I'd never thought we
were poor.
That Easter day I found out we
were. The minister had brought us the money for the poor family,
so we must be poor. I didn't like being poor. I looked at my
dress and worn-out shoes and felt so ashamed—I didn't even
want to go back to church. Everyone there probably already knew
we were poor!
I thought about school. I was in
the ninth grade and at the top of my class of over 100 students.
I wondered if the kids at school knew that we were poor. I decided
that I could quit school since I had finished the eighth grade.
That was all the law required at that time. We sat in silence
for a long time.Then it got dark, and we went to bed. All that
week, we girls went to school and came home, and no one talked
much. Finally on Saturday, Mom asked us what we wanted to do
with the money. What did poor people do with money? We didn't
know. We'd never known we were poor.
We didn't want to go to church
on Sunday, but Mom said had to. Although it was a sunny day,
we didn't talk on the way. Mom started to sing, but no one joined
in and she only sang one verse.
At church we had a missionary speaker.
He talked about how churches in Africa made
buildings out of sun dried bricks, but they needed money to buy
roofs. He said $100 would put a roof on a church. The minister
said, "Can't we all sacrifice to help these poor people?"
We looked at each other and smiled for the first
time in a week.
Mom reached into her purse and
pulled out the envelope. She passed it to Darlene. Darlene gave
it to me, and I handed it to Ocy. Ocy put it in the offering.
When the offering was counted, the minister announced that it
was a little over $100. The missionary was excited. He hadn't
expected such a large offering from our small church. He said,
"You must have some rich people in this church."
Suddenly it struck us! We had given
$87 of that "little over $100." We were the rich family
in the church! Hadn't the missionary said so? From that day on
I've never been poor again. I've always remembered how rich I
am because I have Jesus!
More about Eddie Ogan and the Rich Family |
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Welcome to
Graham Friends Church.
Historically Quaker, we are committed
to hearing God speak to us and responding to what he tells us.
We have discovered the only reliable way to hear the Spirit is
through through the scripture. Therefore, our mission is...
1:
to faithfully listen to and walk through this life with
the God of the Bible and
2:
to show others how to do the same
3:
so that we may all enjoy God's friendship forever.
Throughout
the pages in this website you will discover both how the Friends
of Jesus in Graham, NC, are walking with God and how you
may do the same.
2007
Calendar
Learn to be like Jesus!
Updated:
A letter of
encouragement
from Pastor Mark
Directions to Graham Friends
Sundays
• Sunday School classes for children and adults are
at 10am.
• Worship is at 11am. This is a warm, informal gathering
that includes music and a Children's Chat. Pastor Mark is currently
preaching through the book of Galatians.
•
Friends at Four is at 4pm. This is a time for the children
and youth of the church to meet for a fun and inspirational
event with the Pastor and other adults.
Wednesdays
• Bible Study is at 11am & 7pm. We are studying
the Faith Lessons video series. Lunch is served at Noon and supper
at 6pm.
Second Tuesday of Each Month
• The Lola Crow Missionary Circle meets in members’
homes at 7pm.
Second Wednesday of Each Month
• Mamie Thompson Missionary Circle meets in the fellowship
hall lounge at 1pm, following Wednesday lunch.
First Saturday of each Month
• The Quaker Men meet for breakfast and devotions
at 8am in the fellowship hall.
• Ministries •
Missions
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