I Was A Rich Person.

I walked into the room of first through sixth graders, ready to tell a story and get the point across: that God is everywhere -- He knows everything -- He sees all of us and all that we do -- and He loves us so much. The kids were jumping around, talking -- ready to get started.

Jack had out an aqua-colored Nintendo DS and he was playing away at a Super Mario game. We talked for a little bit and I told him about my DS and which games I had.

Then one of the sixth graders -- Sam -- came up to me and said, "Oh yeah, so I think this week is when I'm going to get the Star Wars Millennium Falcon Lego set!"

"Oh yeah?" I said. "How many pieces does that thing have? Like 2,000 or something?"

"No, more like 5,000 something. It took this one guy three days to finish -- and he said that it must have been a world record."

"Wow... that's crazy." I smiled. That really was crazy. That was so many little pieces that had to be all put together just to build the set. "I love Lego's. They're just so fun."

"Yeah." Sam nodded and walked off.

And then Scott stepped up -- and I hadn't noticed, but he had been listening the whole time. He looked up at me -- with the most serious look on his face that I had ever seen and said, "You own Lego's and a DS? You're rich." He said it so plainly -- yet with this sort of pain behind his voice -- and I knew: this kid didn't have this stuff. He didn't have all the toys and things that the others did.

I didn't even know what to say. I just stood there. I had been really worried lately about my own financial situation. It seemed like every time I turned around I had to pay somebody else for something: school bills, textbooks, insurance payments, car payments, everything always seemed to come at once.

And as I stood there thinking about what this kid had just said, I kept thinking... I am pretty rich when I think about it. I have everything I need for sure -- I have food, clothes, a house to sleep in at night -- and I had a lot of things that I didn't need, but definitely made life simpler and easier. Things like a car, a laptop, a cell phone. I was a rich person and I didn't even realize it.

Recently I met a lady at the bookstore. She came in and told me about this book she had written and was getting published. We talked for a while about her book, and the title of it really caught me: Will Jesus Buy Me A Double Wide? The whole book is about America as a whole -- how we have so much already, but we want more.

Suddenly I kept thinking -- am I a selfish person for having all of this and not realizing it? Not necessarily selfish for just having stuff -- but for not realizing the fact that I had a lot. And for not thanking God for it -- but just taking it on the idea that it would always be there whenever I needed it.

Lately I've been addicted to playing Monopoly at McDonald's. I keep thinking -- you know, I have to get food anyway -- so why not try to win $10,000 while I'm at it? Maybe I'll get lucky and get a bunch of money and pay off everything: my car, college expenses, my cell phone bill for the next fifty year.

And I started thinking about that -- do I really need all that stuff? Why can't I just be satisfied with what I've been given?

So here and now -- here's my resolve: to remember who I am and the place I'm in. And to be completely grateful and satisfied. And to be looking out for those less fortunate than me -- because maybe I can help. Maybe I can be someone who's Dying To Give. Maybe.