Over the Christmas holidays, Beth and I enjoyed a train excursion to New Orleans. We enjoyed a delightful time together. The train ride from Jackson to New Orleans was a romantic throwback to a slower and easier time. Riding coach, a meal in the dining car, and whistle stops in Southern towns with names like Hazelhurst, Brookhaven, McComb, and Hammond rocked us into a state of relaxation.
The train pulled into the New Orleans Union Station on an afternoon when the New Orleans Saints were in town. Crowds of people were exiting the Superdome. Throngs of people, mourning the loss of the home team, clogged the sidewalks. Revelers were gathering to tailgate their sorrows away after the Saints final loss of the season. The sickening aroma of alcohol hung in the air.
Beth and I loaded our overnight bags onto an electric streetcar on the Loyola-Union Passenger Terminal line. The streets were congested with vehicles. The streetcar inched along, stopping to pick up and disembark passengers on Loyola Street. At one stop, an attractive couple, adorned in home team's black, stepped up the step and into the open doorway of the streetcar. The man fumbled in his pocket for the necessary change for the $1.25 fare. His voice, a bit too loud from the influence of alcohol, called out to the seated passengers for a 50 cent gift for a "Saints fan."
One lady reached into her purse and gave the overjoyed man the fifty cents he needed to finish the correct change for his fare. He proudly proclaimed to his girlfriend, "Watch this! I'm gonna make this lady's day!" He opened his wallet and reached for a twenty dollar bill. He pressed the twenty into his surprised benefactors hand. Throughout the remainder of the streetcar ride, the fan could be heard proclaiming his own generosity to a full streetcar of travelers, who were obviously trying to mind their on business.
The inebriated man's generosity got me to thinking. Paul told the Phillipians to "Be not drunk with wine... But be filled with the Spirit!" If a drunk man could be so generous, what does Paul's command suggest about those of us who are filled with the Holy Spirit's sanctifying fulness? Should we not be marked by a spirit of generosity?
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