A Testimony of Generosity: "Play Ball!"

This story was shared by Dave Stasich during worship last Sunday. I thought it deserved to be more broadly broadcast, so I'm publishing it here with permission.

"PLAY BALL! That was the only thing on this 11 year old boy's mind in 1956 because, I desperately wanted to play 'Little League Baseball'. The only problem was, I came from the 'wrong side of the tracks' so to speak. We were as poor as the 'proverbial church mice' and we were on welfare to boot. I couldn't even afford a cheap baseball glove, let alone a real good one to play baseball.

My Mother mentioned that to our social worker, who one day took me to meet Mr. Stelk, who owned Stelk's Hardware in downtown Victoria. He took me to the rack of Professional genuine leather baseball gloves and said to me "Go ahead and pick one out son". I went for this Warren Hacker pitcher's mitt, not knowing how I was ever going to pay for it. I turned to him and he said with a smile "It's yours, free, now go and play ball."

Now even at that age, I knew that people didn't go into business to give away stock and lose money so I knew that Mr. Stelk was a very generous man. I found out later that he was a disciple of Jesus Christ. In 1956 this glove cost $27.00 which was a huge sum in those days. For some families that I knew, it was their monthly food bill.

Later in life when I became a disciple of Jesus Christ, I remembered Mr. Stelk's generosity to me and it has inspired and provoked me to be always generous toward God and people. This glove is in a place where I can always see it and it reminds me of the truth that Mr. Stelk taught me that day that generosity is a Christian virtue. Thanks Mr. Stelk.