Personal Blogs

“Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor…” Luke 1: 8

The words above were spoken by Zacchaeus, a rich disciple of Jesus. What is missing from the story is the happiness experienced by the poor who were recipients of his kindness.  Having been brought up at a time where people of my generation knew the value of the pound and the price of poverty, I can relate to the actions of Zacchaeus.

One day My wife asked me what was my happiest childhood memory?

It was the day my two friends came and asked if I was coming with them? It was a spring morning, and we took the ferry across to Kelvin to visit the museum.

We were there for several hours and on our return, we were rubbing our tummies with hunger. A man said, ‘Here’s a half-crown, buy yourselves ice-cream.’ We jumped up and down singing ‘Chips, glorious chips.’ Then… we stopped…went silent. The man told us to buy ice-cream. But he just smiled, and we jumped up and down again singing ‘Chips, glorious chips.’

And I would have to say, that was my happiest childhood memory; the day the kind man smiled and thought it was okay to buy chips.