A Very Cool Story

I read this story a year or so ago. I don't remember all the details, but the gist of the story is faithful to what I read.

It happened at the graduation ceremony at a small college last year.

After all the seniors had received their diplomas the college president said that he had one more announcement to make, and he called three seniors to please come forward. They had no idea why they were being called.

It turned out that the three of them had excelled in their studies and could have pursued any number of lucrative careers, but instead each of them had taken a very low-paying job in the non-profit sector. I don't remember exactly what they were -- maybe Peace Corps, or teaching in inner city schools, or working in health care in a poverty stricken remote rural area. You get the idea. They were taking their smarts and their very expensive educations to serve people who were on the fringes and at risk and who did not usually get the attention or the care of such gifted people as these young graduates.

The president announced that an alum of this college had gotten wind of their plans and was impressed by their genuine altruism. Imagine you were one of these three young people when you heard these words,
"Susan Smith, your entire student loan of $97,000 has been paid for you."
"John Jones, your entire student loan of $106,000 has been paid for you."
"Sally Wilson, your entire student loan of $123,000 has been paid for you."

Imagine what these young people will be able to do with their lives because someone took their blessings and paid them forward. Imagine what heights they will be able to reach and how many more people they will be able to serve because they are unencumbered by their debts.

But what I really want you to imagine is what it must have felt like for that benefactor. This truly is how to make this a better world.

And this is exactly what God did for us in the Incarnation. I don't buy the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. But I can absolutely accept the idea of God paying it forward for us. Infinitely forward. Any debt we might incur has already been paid -- not by the death of Jesus but by the love of God. And this gives us the freedom to move forward in our faith, to step out into wonder, to take the gifts that God has given us and use them profligately for the good of all creation. And to become ever more Christlike as we do.