Cans

I posted this photo on my Project 365 blog, and I thought some of you might appreciate the story behind it.

The church I attend supports a church in Mexico. The people down there are very poor, and cannot even afford to pay their pastor a living wage. Years ago, so long I don't even remember when they started, my church found this little Mexican church and began helping them out. Not just sending them money. Every summer a group of our church members would go down to Mexico and work on this church. They practically built the church building and the pastor's home. They also did Bible Schools for the kids.

In those days, there was an old man in my church whom everyone called Mister Ted. Mister Ted was in his mid 80s and had some pretty serious health problems. He was also in a fixed income, and didn't have a lot of disposable cash. But Mister Ted went on these mission trips to Mexico faithfully until his health would no longer permit it. He collected and sold cans to raise enough money to finance his trips.

When some members of the church found out that Mister Ted was collecting cans, they began saving and bring him their cans. Every Sunday would find Wal-mart sacks full of cans left by the back door of the church for Mister Ted to take home. Soon, so many bags were being brought that Mister Ted put up a portable pen for people to leave the sacks in. Eventually, a trailer was built just for these cans.

Mister Ted has since passed on, but what he started continues to this day. People of the church still bring their drink cans and leave them in the trailer. The church still sells the cans back to the scrap metal yard. Every penny of this can money goes to support, in one way or another, that little church down in Mexico.

Every life that pastor touches. Every child that little church brings hope to. Every person those people reach out to. That is Mister Ted's legacy.