"Is Anyone Honest These Days?"

By REV. DR DAVID L. CHANCEY
Pastor

A man with a nagging secret couldn't keep it any longer. In confessional he admitted that for years he had been stealing building supplies from the lumberyard where he worked.

"What did you take?" his priest asked.

"Enough to build my own home and enough for my son's house. And houses for our two daughters. And our cottage at the lake."

"This is very serious," the priest said. "I shall have to think of a far-reaching penance. Have you ever done a spiritual retreat?"

"No, father, I haven't," the man replied, "but if you can get the plans, I can get the lumber."

That man didn't get it, did he? Like a lot of folks these days, integrity is out the window. Character is taking a beating. Kobe Bryant cheats on his wife. Sammy Sosa uses a corked-bat. Jim Harrick's scandal tarnishes UGA basketball.

Too many people are like the husband who was asked by his wife, "why don't you play golf with Ted anymore?"

The man replied, "Would you play golf with a man who moved the golf ball with his foot when you weren't watching?"

His wife replied, "why, no, I wouldn't."

Her husband said, "Neither will Ted."

Is anyone honest anymore? Several weeks ago, two Valparaiso, Fla., 13-year-olds named Aaron Milligan and Josh Thedford ran over an envelope with their lawn mower. The envelope was thick, really thick.

The two lifelong friends and business partners for the summer mow lawns around Valparaiso to earn spending money. What they found was an envelope full of money that stalled out their lawn mower. When they picked up the inch-thick envelope, they eagerly thumbed through a dozen or so $20 bills, and then they found the $100s. Altogether, their discovery totaled $2,787.

The boys found a secluded spot to count and recount the money. "We were shocked," Aaron said.

"We couldn't even breathe," Josh added. The boys started a list: Jet Skis, Playstations, baseball equipment, a new lawn mower.

As the evening unfolded and their list grew longer, they began to have second thoughts. Someone lost that money, and they knew it would be wrong to keep it. It didn't belong to them.

Josh's mom drove them to City Hall, and they handed the envelope over to stunned police officers. The cash had already been reported missing by its owner, a 36-year-old former sheriff's deputy who was permanently disabled last year when injured on active military duty. He was on his way home from the bank with money he planned to use to buy a pontoon boat for his kids when he dropped the cash.

Three hours after reporting it missing, the police called to report the boy's recovered envelope. He rushed to the police station and met Aaron and Josh, who realized by now that they had done the right, honest thing. The boys were rewarded $80 each, not quite enough for a Jet Ski, but more than they'd make in a day of mowing lawns.

Sandwich shop owner Janet Kirkpatrick treated the boys to a free lunch and told them they were heroes.

"These are the sort of boys you want in your neighborhood," she said. "A lot of people would have just taken the money and run, but these are good boys."

Thankfully, there are some honest people left in the world.

(Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor of McDonough Road Baptist Church in Fayetteville. The church family meets at 352 McDonough Road for Bible study at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10:55 a.m. each Sunday.)