9:37 p.m. - Thursday, Feb. 03, 2005
Paco Sends A Letter
Dear Pastor Joel Osteen,
I am very poor. My children sleep in a cardboard box in a garbage dump, and I was starting to feel very discouraged about the whole situation. Raising a family is hard work. Try doing it in a box! Whew! Anyhoo, I was feeling discouraged when I turned on the television (the "television" being the broken box with no glass or actual picture tube that sits by our "coffee table") and heard you.
You were talking about having trouble finding a parking space at the mall. You said that you simply asked for God's favor, and didn't get discouraged. You kept circling the parking lot until, Whammo!, there it was! That primo parking spot you were hoping for! You even joked to your children to rub your arm to get some of that favor that was all over you! (you are a funny guy!) You said that we as Christians should be "favor-minded" all the time.
I can't tell you how much this meant to me! The next day as I walked the streets of my crowded Latin-American city begging for some spare change, I thought to myself, "Just be favor-minded, Paco, and it'll all come together." When someone refused to give me a coin or spit at me or hit me in the face (Ouch!), I just kept asking for the Lord's favor!
Wouldn't you know it, by the end of the day I had enough change to buy my family a great big McChicken WITH fries and a super-sized ice water! PTL! I said to my son Pepe, "You might want to rub my arm to get some of this favor off me! I've got too much!" He had so much to eat, he almost even had the strength to lift his arm to do it! We had such a laugh!
I've been so very encouraged. When times get rough, I just remember to put on a smile and remember to stay favor-minded. As a result, my family and I have eaten almost EVERY day for the last week. Just yesterday, a brand new TV (WITH a working picture tube!) just fell in our laps! Really. It fell in our laps. We live in a garbage dump. It may have broken my leg, but now I get to see your smiling face in full color every week!
Well, I should get out and start begging change to buy a stamp for this letter. Thanks to being favor-minded, I'm sure that won't be a problem!
Thanks again, Pastor Osteen!
Sincerely,
Paco Sandoval
Empty Refrigerator Box,
City Dump,
Impoverished Nation
PS
We didn't think we could afford it before, but we're looking at moving into a bigger box! Woo-Hoo!
