Jerry couldn’t wait to gulp down an ice cold drink to quench his thirst. Practice had been brutal. The coach had the team running non-stop under the intense afternoon sun. Even after Jerry finished off his entire bottle of water, his throat still screamed for more liquid.
Fortunately, the local grocery store had his favorite drink, available in a cooler right at the front of the store. He had just enough time for a quick stop, and still make it home in time for dinner. Jerry pulled a few wadded up bills from his pocket and began to flatten them out as he counted. That’s when his shoe caught an object that had been laying on the ground, sending is skidding across the parking lot pavement. At first he thought it was just a piece of litter, but for some reason, he decided to take a closer look.
Jerry picked up an ordinary white envelope. Turning it over, he found a single hand-written word on the front, “GROCERIES.” Since it wasn’t sealed, he opened the flap to find several new $20 bills tucked inside. Suddenly, he felt strange, like someone was watching him. He glanced to his right and then to his left. Busy shoppers streamed past, but none paid any attention to him.
… Sixty, eighty, one hundred, one hundred and twenty dollars. Wow! That was a lot of cash. Again he looked around, expecting someone to run straight up to him and take the money from his hand, but no one claimed it. He couldn’t help staring at the money for what seemed like an hour.
“I could buy a new pair of cleats with this,” Jerry thought to himself. “Mine are nearly warn out. Beside, if I keep the money, who would ever know?”
Of course, most of the people he knew would expect him to give the money to the store manager, like his mom, his coach, and his aunt Wanda. Then there was Mike Jones, the local college quarterback who visited is school the previous month. Mike was an outstanding athlete, and all around great guy. He gave a talk to the whole school, telling the kids to, “always do the right thing, even when no one is looking.”
Jerry had been inspired by Mike’s speech, but he wondered if anyone really lived like that. Next, Roger’s voice popped into his head. Roger was a good friend, but he was a fast talker, and he had a way of coning people, making them believe what he wanted them to. Jerry could hear Roger’s voice in his head. “Are you crazy!” Roger would say, “why give the money away? The store manager will just keep it himself.”
Jerry made up his mind. Then, as casually as he could, he slipped the enveloped into his pocket, and headed straight for the store. A few minutes later, he left with a cold drink in his hand.
The next day, an elderly women slowly made her way into the store. She walked with a cane, and even though the temperature was pushing ninety degrees, she wore a long sleeved sweater. At the service counter, she waited patiently for her turn.
“How can I help you?” the young clerk with a blue uniform asked.
“I am looking for a white envelope that I lost. I must have accidentally dropped it in the store, or the parking lot. Yesterday, when I got on the bus, it was gone. Did anyone turn it in?”
The clerk scanned a shelf to his right, and then reported, “No, I don’t see an envelope here.”
“Are you sure,” asked the women as she leaned forward. “It had my grocery money for the whole month. If I don’t find it, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“Hold on, I will ask the manager,” the clerk shrugged, and then disappeared into a back office.
Within the minute, the store manager appeared at the service counter. “I understand that you lost something?” She questioned the old women. “Can you describe it to me?”
“Yes. It was a white envelope with one hundred and twenty dollars in it.”
The store manager smiled as she placed a while envelope on the counter. “A fine young man told me he found this in the parking lot yesterday. All the money is here.”
The elderly woman’s eyes welled up with tears as she pick up the envelope, “Please thank him for me, if you see him again.”
Other Stories You Might Enjoy
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This is based on a true story. The author knows someone who lost an envelope with grocery money in a store parking lot. A caring person turned the money over to the store. However, we never learned who that person was.
In the story, Jerry was tempted to keep the money. If this happened to you, would you be tempted to keep it? Would you be tempted to keep some of it?
What would you do with the envelope?
How would you feel doing the right thing, even if no one knew about your good deed?
Can you think of a Bible verse that tells us what to do in situations like this one?