The Bigger Picture.

Today, I sold the first car I've ever owned in order to have a down payment for my next one. It's a big change, but it was a very exciting change. One that I won't soon forget.

The buyer was a young Asian guy who attends the University of Tennessee just down the road from me. He was relatively young as he didn't even have a liscense yet, but nevertheless, he had saved his money and intended to buy a good car to learn to drive in. Accompanied by three of his friends, he inspected the car, test drove it, had Firestone do a full-body checkup on it, and finally came to the consensus that it was definitely the car for him.

After much discussion about price and other details, my dad and the Asian boy came to an agreement. Now, I need to stress this: my father is a HARD bargainer. He knows every trick in the book and doesn't hesitate to utilize every one of them, sometimes more than once.

His victims usually stagger away with skinny wallets and aching heads...but this time was different. Dad demonstrated a characteristic that I rarely witness in him. He showed that poor college kid sympathy. A couple hundred dollars worth of sympathy.

Then, he did something that I couldn't be more proud of him for. He handed the group of guys a tract, and told them that before he left, he wanted to make sure they had that.

There's a slim chance we will ever speak to, hear of, or see any of them ever again. There's also a slim chance that they will actually read that tract, but dad saw the bigger picture. He realized that giving a little, showing a little sympathy, and planting that small slip of paper would plant a priceless seed that he would never have a chance to plant again.

I love my daddy. I could never thank God enough for giving me such a wonderful man to be raised by.