What did you give?

When I was a child ...

The most important day of the year when I was a child was, of course, Christmas. The second most important day of the year was (ta .... da.....) the day after Christmas. Why? Because we got to tell everyone that bit of news that was hanging on the edge of our teeth. We got to share the info about what we got for Christmas. That meant calling Ricky and Tommy Hardy as soon as I could.

Get that? We were afforded the opportunity to tell everyone what we were given by Santa and/or our parents, friends, teachers, aunts and uncles or just about any and all we had come into.

The (party) lines were buzzing.

"Ricky, I got it. I got it. That chemistry set no one could find, my mama found. Come on over and we'll blow something up, er, make something. What's that? No, I don't know how to work the stuff, but hey, it's chemistry stuff and something has to blow something else up or why would they sell it? You just pour a bit of that yellow stuff into a bit of that green stuff and, hey, when I did it smoke started coming out of the beaker almost instantly. It's kind of like what made those spiders special in Spider-Man. hey, maybe we could get powers, you know, powers like sticking to walls and such. Maybe..."

As great as reporting the news and sharing the news about what was under the tree (and indeed it was great news even if the stuff wasn't so great because it was NEW stuff to us -- even if it was used sometimes because we couldn't afford new yellow and green stuff), calling a friend to brag about what was under the tree was equally grand. That's just who we were, if you're wondering just how crass and full of ourselves we could be. Hey, we were kids in the 60s. Everything was about us. We were told that all we needed was love, and a new football, and things would be great. Didn't care much about that love business, but getting new things was something I completely bought into. Often as possible, too.

I once snuck out the window of my bedroom with the keys to my parents' car. No, I didn't take it for a ride. I popped the trunk, took out the football, and I spent an hour throwing passes to myself in the yard. Oh, and I spent the hour practicing making the call on "Turner catching and/or throwing the winning touchdown pass in the Sugar Bowl." Then I placed the football back into the trunk, after wiping it clean from an hour of condensation and dirt and Turner sweat. What a great night, surpassed only by the job I did in being surprised the next day when amazingly, hey, I got a football for Christmas.

Whatdidyouget was the question poured into phone lines (remember those?) the day after Christmas in Meridian, Miss., when I was growing up and I suspect it still gets its share of usage today.

But perhaps the better question should be, and I mean this, what did you give? We, I suspect, don't ask that question much, and we don't think about that question much, and it gets little air time on Bowl Game day.

So, I ask you ... What did you give this year? Oh, I don't mean did you give the kids or grandkids the right game of Minecraft or the right the right next hot toy or the right pair of shoes. As an aside, my grandson got "basketball shoes." "They're LeBron James' shoes, Paw Paw," said my 7-year-old rebounder Gavin, who probably should get some of former Chicago Bulls player Dennis Rodman shoes since Gavin rebounds with effort, plays defense like he was born to do so and shoots only if (ONLY if) the building will collapse if he doesn't do so. I've seen two basketball games so far this season, and Gavin has taken two shots (making the same amount of jump shots as have I -- zero.

But back to the case. What did you give this year? Did you give to God till it actually hurts? We talk quite a bit about tithing, about 10 percent giving, about what we're supposed to do. But do we do it? I suspect not.

This coming year, this bring speaking new 2015, I pray you will pray about giving. If you don't have a place with which to point your offerings toward, we as the New Church on South Carrollton would love for you to consider giving to us. We have huge needs like new floors, carpets, pews, a painted sanctuary ceiling, new ministry needs, cleaning needs, needs of new windows and the removal of mold, etc. If you can't find a suitable donation destination, please consider us.

Giving is hard to begin to do, but it is of God. Giving is a difficult habit to start, but it is God's intention. You don't have to be great at it int he beginning, but boy once you are, your life will change.

What did you give this year is a far better question than what did you get?

But having said that, I got a Saints' phone case, a Saints' coffee cup, a Saints' coat, a new bike, a ... Oh, old habits are so hard to break.