I learned the most important and valuable lessons about stewardship when I was very young. My mother and father taught me to tithe and they taught me to see not just a portion of my time, talents and treasures to be God's, but all of them.
My father also taught me some specifics about giving and he (and Jesus) instilled in me a love for parables, stories and illustrations. A very active lay leader, he also taught many of these lessons to his congregations over the years.
I remember one in particular. I was just a little boy and after the service one Sunday I listened intently when my father stood in the front of the church and gave what we might call today a "minuteman talk."
He began with a story and he probably could have just ended with it as well, since his point was crystal clear. He said that many adults learn their priorities and values as children and they continue to act on them when they grow up.
A little boy went to Sunday school one day and, before she sent him off, his mother gave him two shiny new nickels. She said: "One is for you and one is for the Lord. You put one into the offering basket and you can spend the other one at the store on your way home.
Well, the lad went skipping off to Sunday school, enjoying the pretty day and the energy God had given him. As he ran and skipped, he failed to notice a raised place in the sidewalk and he fell to the ground, causing one of the nickels to dislodge from his hand. It bounced twice into the street and rolled right down the sewer.
The boy said, "Oh Lord, there goes your nickel!" Pappy said that many adults fail to set aside the Lord's "nickel" and then, when other things come up, they spend it and it is quickly gone "right down the sewer."
[Editor's note: Edgar went to his eternal home on February 25, 2004.] Pastor Earl Feddersen serves as the manager of donor Internet communications with the LCMS Foundation. He helped develop and manages the new "Give Now" version of the Giving Catalog where individuals can select a mission or ministry project and give online. He is also the author of "Edit-O-Earl," a weekly devotion that was sent by e-mail to thousands of subscribers.)