One day I saw an empty 20-gallon lard can behind Peck's Bakery, and it gave me an idea. It was humid there in the southeast Texas Gulf coastline. It rained a lot, and the off-shore breezes often seemed to carry a vaporous ocean brine content. Even galvanized garbage cans would soon rust out -- which ours had done.

Since I was the sole exchecquer of the garbage at home, I went boldly in where no elementary school kid had ever gone before. I went in through the big garage-door-size alley entrance and boldly asked Mr. Peck if I could have the lard can, and explained why I needed it. He gave it to me, and I went happily home with it across the back of my shoulders.

Well, that was a foot in the door, so to speak. While in there, I saw things in that big work room that fascinated me. So every now and then over the next few months I would go back. The bakers would let me watch them work, look at things, and ask questions. They were swell. After a while they would say, "Time to make yourself scarce". So I would thank them {I was a very polite kid} and say, "So long!".

I knew I was seeing something that none of the other kids even knew about. I watched the three bakers put things in and take things out of a huge oven that I bet held more than a hundred pans of bread and cakes and things. I saw the great big mixer mixing up the dough and yeast -- and the big vat where the leavened dough was left to rise overnight. At a big table {Yes, everything was big} that was covered with flour, the bakers would weigh hunks of dough, chop them down to one-pound hunks, knead them with their hands, cover them in flour, and put them in lard-lined baking pans ready for the oven.

One day Mr. Peck, himself, showed me something new in another part of the big room that really amazed me. Now remember --- this was back in the mid-1930s when there were "bread boxes" and "bread knives" in home kitchens. People sliced their bread themselves. Mr. Peck let me watch his conveyor system that sliced and wrapped a continuous flow of loaves of bread automatically.

Loaves of bread were passed through a battery of thin, sharp, rapidly moving blades that were vertical and spaced apart the width of a slice of bread. Each loaf was then mechanically wrapped in its printed wax paper. It was sealed as it passed between hot metal guides that melted the wax at the folded ends and along the seam.

Talk about a sharp operation! I was flabbergasted! Mr. Peck was sharp; and also very wise, as I was soon to find out and remember for the rest of my life.

Months had passed, and the lard can that Mr. Peck had given me had rusted also. Then I saw another lard can behind the bakery.

I took it for granted that Mr. Peck would give it to me; but he didn't. Instead, he said I could have it for a quarter. {A quarter of a dollar was worth more back then than 25¢ is today. It would buy two large loaves and one small loaf of bread.} I got a quarter from my mother and gave it to Mr. Peck.

Curiosity had gotten the best of me, so I asked Mr. Peck, "Sir, why did you need a quarter for this can? Has the company you buy lard from started charging you a deposit for the return of the can?

Mr. Peck's answer was one of the most treasured gifts I have ever received -- a true dispensation of pactical wisdom.

Mr. Peck said, "Son, I charged you a quarter for it to keep you appreciative. You might as well learn about "GIVING" while you are still young. The first time you give someone something, he might appreciate it. The second time, he may take it for granted. The third time, he will expect it. And the fourth time, he might even demand it".

Wow! How gracefully God blesses His creation with people like Mr. Peck! Even now, decades later, I still appreciate that wisdom that he shared with me when I was just a kid.

In case you are thinking that this means Mr. Peck was a hard-hearted, ungiving man; let me assure you that he wasn't. What it means is that he was wise as a serpent, but harmless as a dove; as Jesus told us to be.

Stop and think about how often Jesus cautions us to "beware" of certain perils. I am convinced that Mr. Peck was well aware that Jesus told us, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you".

No. I found him then and in later years to be full of the fruit of godly love. God so loved that He gave {John 3:16}. Mr. Peck followed that pattern in his life.

Among other things, Mr. Peck kept a large space beside his bakery mowed for the local newspaper to have as a drop-off point where about eight paper boys could have the bundles for their routes delivered to them. I received mine there for the three years that I delivered papers. Yet, I saw Mr. Peck there only a few times.

Sunday deliveries began well before sunrise in the winter. I remember a few of those mornings that were biting cold, and Mr. Peck would show up and invite us into the bakery showroom (store) while waiting for our bundles to arrive. He had gotten out of bed very early to be there before any of us arrived. He had the showroom warm as toast, gave us cookies to eat, and left immediately. And I'm sure that after we had gotten our papers and were gone, he locked up and went home; because his bakery was closed on Sundays.

I could hardly believe it when I heard a couple of those paper boys complaining about the cookies. But then, that only served to remind me of the wisdom that Mr. Peck had shared with me years before.

Nevertheless, that wisdom does not pertain to compassion toward those with "dire" needs. Godly love cares about the dire needs of others. And with it we share; expecting nothing in return from those to whom we give. Mr. Peck expected nothing for the warm showroom, nor for the drop-off point, that he generously gave us.

We need not be concerned about compassionate giving. Everything belongs to God. He is the source. When this kind of giving leaves a void, God resupplies. Everything belongs to Him, everything flows from Him, and everything returns to Him. He expects us to keep it flowing by freely receiving and freely sharing --- espcially sharing the godly love that He gives us.

I cannot now recall exactly what Mr. Peck looked like bodily, but I think I know him in spirit. God is a Spirit, and so are we.