Among items in a display at the National Archives is a letter to Franklin Roosevelt, dated November 6, 1940, postmarked from Santiago, Cuba. To “my good friend Roosevelt. I am twelve years old. I am boy but think very much I do not think I am writting (sic) to the President of the United States. If you like, give me a ten dollars bill green american and I would like to have one of them.” The letter was signed “Sr. Fidel Castro.” Edwards Park comments: “The future premier of Cuba got an acknowledgment, but no ten bucks. Pity. Might have changed the political profile of the Western Hemisphere” (Smithsonian, February 1989). 

Would “ten dollars bill green american” have really changed the political profile of the Western Hemisphere? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But what about “ten dollars bill green american” in the hands of a dedicated missionary carrying the gospel to Cuba? Could Christians in American have changed the course of political history by intervening with the gospel? Certainly!

Jesus had a special interest in children. When the disciples asked who was greatest in the kingdom, He said, “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:3-6). 

We all have responsibilities to children, to do all we can to teach and prepare, to “receive them in his name,” while also being sure that we do nothing to hinder their righteous development by “offending” one of them. What could the church do today if every member had enough interest in young people to invest a little more time, energy, and money in their development here and abroad? If each one would just give “ten dollars bill green american” extra this year, what could we accomplish? Is “ten dollars bill green american” too much to ask?