missionary?" (A Guinea, boys and girls, was a piece of money that was used some years ago; it was about the size of our 50p piece and worth £1.05p in today's money.) Dear Boys and Girls,
Some years ago in a certain town there lived a little boy whose name was George. He loved the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart, and on Sundays would always listen very carefully to what the preacher had to say in church. One Sunday morning there was a Missionary in George's church and this man told the people about how he hoped to go out to Africa to tell the people there all about the Lord Jesus Christ. At the end of the service the minister told the people that there would be a special collection the following week to help the missionary, and as George sat in his seat he decided right there and then that he would give as much as he could to help that missionary to take the gospel to Africa.
When George got home, he said to his mummy, "Mummy, can I have that Guinea that I got for my birthday and give it to the
missionary?" (A Guinea, boys and girls, was a piece of money that was used some years ago; it was about the size of our 50p piece and worth £1.05p in today's money.)
His mother was a bit surprised. "Perhaps you will be sorry later on," she said to George, "would you not like to give just half of it?" But George said, "No; I want to give it all for there are a lot of boys and girls in Africa who need to know the message that Jesus died for our sins." So his mummy went to her purse and gave George his £1.05p. She gave him a pound note and a shilling piece, but George gave it back to his mother and he said, "Please mummy, can I have my guinea instead?" His mother was surprised, but she put the pound note and the 5p back into her purse and handed George a guinea piece instead. Now I wonder why he did that, boys and girls. Before you read any further, see if you can guess why George wanted his guinea piece instead of a pound note and a shilling.
Now, see if you guessed right! The next Sunday, if you had been in church with George, you would have seen him putting his collection into the collecting plate, and here's what you would have seen him put in - two old pennies! "What?" you say, "But where was his guinea?" Ah, well, you see, boys and girls, you would have seen him put in two pennies, but tucked in between those two pennies - one on the top and one on the bottom – was George's guinea. George only wanted God to see what he was giving to the missionary, not anyone else.
Love,
Mrs Seaton.
