(Hint: Go on giving)
Two years after Calvin Tyler first enrolled at Morgan State College, he hit stormy waters. He could not afford the tuition, could not go on with his dream—a college education.
So Calvin took a job driving a UPS delivery truck. Forty years later, he along with wife Tina, “casts his bread upon many waters” committing $20 million to the same school he walked away from, to fund scholarships so other young people like him will not have to forgo their dream of a college education because of lack of money. This was the largest-ever private donation from an alumnus to an HBCU (Historically Black College and University). “I didn’t have a scholarship, so I was struggling to pay tuition and working and trying to take care of myself at the same time,” Tyler told The Associated Press.”
Tyler saw an ad in the newspaper for a driver, got the job, rose up the ranks to become a senior vice president and eventually to sit on the board of directors. He forfeited his dream, but never forgot legacy—that others come after him. “The doors of higher education will most certainly be kept open for generations of aspiring leaders whose financial shortfalls may have kept them from realizing their academic dreams,” said Morgan State President David K. Wilson.
Calvin and Tina practiced a principle of giving found in Ecclesiastes:
Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days. Ecclesiastes 11:1
Generosity, especially in your own time of need, has a way of returning to you and to a greater community in miraculous ways. Let’s look at some of the nuances of storm-giving.
Generosity guarantees return: (Ecc. 11:1) Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days. Generous storm giving does not return void. Like the word of God, generosity will return to the giver. It’s not a question of if, but when and how much. Not all investments are a sure thing. This one is.
Generosity impacts broadly. (Ecc.11:2,3) Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth. 3If the clouds are full, they pour out rain upon the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it lies. When you cast your giving, wide is its scope. It blesses people you may never have expected and touch places you never planned to go.
These Morgan State scholarship recipients will return to their communities—local and abroad—equipped to serve.
Generosity requires action. (Ecc. 11:4) He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. Giving is a call to action, not an ego serving promise unkept. Talking a good game is not the same as upping your game. Calvin was a man of action. He had sown $5 million prior to his historic $20 million gift. Two hundred students reaped 46 scholarships.
Casting your bread upon stormy waters netting great return is nothing new. In Exodus, Moses’ mothers cast him in the Nile to escape infanticide only to have him return to her, a prince, a prophet and a path to a Savior, not just of her people, but all mankind.
In present pandemics and future storms, when it seems like you can’t go on, go on giving. You can’t beat the returns.
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