My friend Verona Cain and I have been exchanging e-mails regarding tithing and stewardship, and she told me a story that knocked my socks off.

What follows is all hers with only a tiny bit of editing…

“I teach my children to tithe. My oldest is seven years old and we have had a bank for her for years. The bank has three sections–a church, a savings bank, and a store–which is intended to teach the child to tithe, to save, and to spend.

“When the time came to purchase a similar bank for my middle child, now 5, I drove to the Christian store and could not find one. I described it to the clerk who thought she remembered something like that from years ago. She plundered in the back and came out with it. However, it was so old, the labels that represented the windows for the buildings had peeled off. When I asked if she could order me a newer model, the clerk said, ‘Do people still teach tithing?’

“I could not believe my ears. “Now, my older two children are from a prior marriage. Their father, Robert, left me because of my Christian faith. He came back later and gave me a choice. ‘I will come home if you back off this whole God thing.’ Well, First Corinthians chapter 7 tells us to let the unbelieving spouse go and I knew I could not turn away from the One who promised to never leave me or forsake me in favor of one who had already left me once.

“So, I told him that I was sorry, I just could not live up to those terms.

“This year, Robert promised Grace Anne, the 7 year old, that he would give her a hundred dollars if she made all A’s on her report card. She worked very hard and did just that. Then, when Robert asked what she planned to do with the money, she told him. She would give 10 dollars to God, save 10 dollars, and spend the rest. She didn’t have a plan for that $80, but she knew precisely what to do with the first and second portions of it.

“That’s when Robert hit the roof. He told her–and later told me–that she did not have to give that money to that blankety-blank church if she didn’t want to, that she had worked hard for that money and it was hers to spend as she pleased, not to give to our church.

“Robert went through multiple variations of breaking his promise to give her the money, and ultimately decided to keep the money at his house and refuse to let her bring it home.

“Grace Anne told me she knew why he was doing that—it was to keep her from tithing. She said, ‘But you know what, Mom? I could just take 10 dollars out of my spending money from my allowance here at home and give it to God, and then it will be the same thing. Ten dollars is ten dollars.

“This child is 7 years old. She made this decision on her own, and she followed through on it.

“While Robert was on his tirade against the church, one of the statements he made was that children are ‘young and impressionable,’ and that he does not want me to teach them that giving all that money to the church is the only way.

“I think he has a point in one way. If we want our children to grow up as adults who make choices counter to the cultural influences of materialism, we should begin teaching the point while they are ‘young and impressionable.’ God knew this too. It’s Deuteronomy 11:19.”

There. I thought you would appreciate that. Incidentally, let me emphasize that this is not some anonymous tale from cyberspace where you have no idea who wrote it and whether it’s true or not. I’m sitting at my computer, staring at the printout of Verona’s testimony dated June 4, 2008.

I could tell you more, but Verona asked me not to. She still prays for Robert’s salvation and does not want to do anything that might be a stumblingblock.

So, I tweaked the names a bit. I did everyone’s except Grace Anne. That’s her name, and what a winner that child is!

“Out of the mouths of babes…thou hast rebuked the mighty.” (Psalm 8:2, New English Bible)