Making a Splash

Though I have never experienced it for myself, there are people who take trips every year to go out to sea to watch the whales and dolphins make that huge splash that they can catch on camera for everyone to see on their social media page. The hope is that this will indicate that they are living the dream and have an exciting life! However, not only does this only describe an hour or two, one of their three hundred and sixty-five days of just one year of their life, the same goes for whales and dolphins. They are not living their lives just to make humans happy by jumping out of the water all day long, but they participate in a more intricate life under the water. They are very social creatures in their own world and are highly intelligent. (One wonders if they are putting posts on their social media pages about humans, they see each day gawking at them. LOL) They can communicate with each other, even when they are miles apart. They live in pods varying in size from a few, to hundreds, though whales prefer deeper waters than dolphins. Though they are constantly eating for their own survival, this plays a crucial part in the oceans’ ecosystem. It helps to regulate the food chain, thereby maintaining balance in the oceans that we enjoy.

It is an innate trait in human nature to want to be remembered and leave some type of legacy or mark on the world after they have passed away. After all, we feel that our hard work should be noticed, acknowledged, and rewarded in some way, shape, or form. However, our ‘whale watching,’ and ‘quick splashes’ in life will not be what will be remembered. Yes, the photos and posts will perhaps get hundreds or even thousands of ‘likes’ from people we know and mostly do not know, but it will only be for a fleeting moment. Time is so precious and only what we do for the Lord, which is mostly manifested in our world by doing for others, will last. Romans 12:10 says, “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another.” John 13:35 tells us, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” No, these are not things that will ‘make a splash,’ but they will be the things that will make a difference in someone’s life, and that you will be remembered for. Colossians 3:17 gives us the bottom line, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

In Matthew 10:7-13 Jesus said, “And as ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. And when ye come into a house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it…” 1 Timothy 5:17-18 says, “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn. And the laborer is worthy of his reward.” Our reward comes from God when we do for others. Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

In his later years, Solomon began to see the folly and vanity of all the work we do for self, the wealth we gain for self, and the ‘splashy moments’ we live for selfish gratification. In Ecclesiastes 2:15-24 he stated, “Then said I in my heart, as it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then wiser? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity. For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how does the wise man die? as the fool. Therefore, I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous to me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Yea, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. And who knows whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity. Therefore, I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took under the sun. For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not labored therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil. For what hath man of all his labor, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath labored under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity. There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw that it was from the hand of God.”

Solomon began to realize in his old age, that it was not about pomp and circumstance, or about being recognized as being the wisest or the richest man alive that would amount to anything when he was gone. In Ecclesiastes 5:12-16 he continues, “The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begets a son, and there is nothing in his hand. As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath labored for the wind?” Job had stated the same in Job 1:21, “And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

It is not the riches or fame that we amass, or our star on the ‘Hollywood Walk of Fame’ that will count in the end, but what we have done with what God has given us for the good of others, which will make the difference. James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”  These ‘perfect gifts’ could refer to anything from wisdom, riches, talents, skills, careers, houses, lands, to the simple food, clothing, shelter, and bare necessities that we all need to survive. We must be stewards of these ‘good gifts’ to be effective in our world. Just because the chubby neighborhood boy can make a huge splash in the pool, shouting, “Jeronimo,” while doing a ‘bomb’ into the deep end, does not mean that he can swim, nor that it is appreciated by those being splashed on the sides of the pool. Yet someone walking up onto the diving board and doing a quiet, calculated, and controlled dive, can be very impressive without ever calling attention to themselves. The Olympic medal winners will be those who put in hours of practice behind the scenes, when no one is around.

I read a story recently from the Washington Post about a man named Terry Kahn, who made quite a difference in his world when he was living and after he passed away, because of the intentional life he lived, always thinking of others, yet never calling attention to himself.

The story of Terry Kahn from the Washington Post goes like this.

Emmy Hildebrand almost deleted the suspicious email when it popped into her inbox early last year. A man claiming to be a lawyer asked if she, as the executive director of an Indianapolis-based nonprofit that provides housing to veterans, was interested in a donation. It sounded like a typical scam offering millions of dollars if she would only fork over bank account information.

“I honestly thought it was spam, and so I didn’t call right away,” Hildebrand, with HVAF of Indiana, told The Washington Post.

But she didn’t dismiss it out of hand either. Instead, Hildebrand researched the sender, Dwayne Isaacs, whom she discovered, was indeed a lawyer who worked at a legitimate Indianapolis law firm.

Hildebrand called him. Isaacs was representing the estate of a man who had spent his life secretly amassing a small fortune and wanted to give it all away when he died. Isaacs had a question for Hildebrand.

Did she and her nonprofit organization want a million dollars?

Hildebrand wasn’t the only one. Isaacs contacted a slew of nonprofits around Indianapolis in the year following Terry Kahn’s death on Jan. 31, 2021. Before dying at the age of 77, Kahn had spent decades quietly becoming a multimillionaire through a combination of a healthy income, smart investing, and extreme frugality. After his death, the coexecutors of his estate spent two years doling out a little more than $13 million to a dozen nonprofits around the city, including ones that give school supplies to teachers, provide safe haven for domestic violence victims and house veterans and their families.

Born in 1943, Kahn grew up with his parents and sister in Tucson, where his father worked as a doctor at the local Veterans Affairs hospital. He graduated from the University of Southern California with degrees in psychology and public administration. He then joined the Army and served in Vietnam. Once he left the military, Kahn started working for the Department of Veterans Affairs at medical centers in New Orleans and Nashville. He settled in Indianapolis in 1976, where he worked at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center for 27 years before retiring around 2003 as the chief of human resources.

Around 2000, his mother died and left him an inheritance that he continued to invest wisely, Isaacs said. Whether it was an unexpected largesse or his paycheck, Khan was “notoriously frugal,” according to Isaacs. Despite being a multimillionaire, he didn’t own a cellphone, opting to borrow strangers’ phones if he needed to make a call. For more than 20 years, he lived in the same house that sold for just over $200,000 after he died, Isaacs said. And Kahn made Isaacs promise not to spend any money on an obituary, which he considered a waste since no one would be interested in his life.

“He’s one of the most frugal people I’ve ever met,” Isaacs said.

But Kahn did splurge on what mattered most to him. A big sports fan, those indulgences were season tickets to the Colts, Pacers, and Butler University men’s basketball games. But even then, Khan worked to break even, selling tickets to games he didn’t attend, to cover the cost of those he did.

Isaacs met Kahn in the 1990s through their shared work with a private health-care-related foundation, according to Indianapolis Monthly, which was the first to report Kahn’s story. Khan left the foundation’s board in 2010 and, a few months later, called Isaacs to set up a lunch, which turned into a monthly routine, according to the magazine.

A few years into their lunch dates, Khan told Isaacs that he wanted his help in writing a simple will to give to charity the $3 million to $4 million he had accrued by that time, Isaacs told The Post. Although Isaacs encouraged him to start researching which charities he wanted the money to go to, Khan balked, telling Isaacs that he would make that decision along with Vance McLarren, a former co-worker who had since moved to Denver.

Both Isaacs and McLarren continued to nudge Khan into researching charities, scouting their properties, and meeting with their leaders to figure out where he wanted his money to go once, he died. They told him he might find purpose in the project ‘and see what good work it was going to do.’

Shortly before Khan died, he gave Isaacs and McLarren an update on the size of his estate: It now topped $13 million.

“We were very surprised. And at that point in time, I think my quote was, Terry, why didn’t you let us know?” Isaacs said.

Khan died in January 2021.

While Kahn’s contribution was over, Isaacs’s was about to kick into a higher gear. McLarren flew into Indianapolis and the two came up with the criteria they would use to disburse Kahn’s money. They didn’t want to spend the next decade doling out $10,000 at a time, so they set a target, standard donation of $1 million per nonprofit. The organizations had to be big enough to handle an influx of cash, but not so large that a million dollars would go unnoticed.

They wanted the donations to be “transformative.”

“We just thought that was more in Terry’s spirit of how he’d want to do things,” Isaacs said.

They gave the money away on a rolling basis over the next two years. Isaacs researched two to three nonprofits at a time, checking out their websites, seeing whether he knew any of their board members, and inspecting their tax filings. Even though Khan hadn’t chosen specific organizations, Isaacs tried to home in on those doing work in areas that Terry had cared about: health care, veterans affairs and children’s education and sports.

Isaacs made his first call to Margaret Sheehan at Teachers’ Treasures, which provides free school supplies for educators and received $1 million from Kahn’s estate. He made the last to the Arthur R. Baxter YMCA branch on the south side of Indianapolis, which has used its $1.2 million gift to build a soccer field, and two smaller soccer parks made of artificial turf. Since Kahn didn’t care about putting his name on facilities, it allowed the branch’s executive director, John Schwentker, to sell naming rights and bring in additional money.

Something similar happened at HVAF of Indiana, the nonprofit that houses veterans and their families. Hildebrand, its chief executive, said most donors want their money to go to tangible things that concretely help veterans. Kahn’s no-strings-attached gift allowed HVAF to do behind-the-scenes administrative work, like replacing their outdated HVAC system at a cost of $250,000.

“It’s not flashy,” Hildebrand said. “It’s not glamorous.” Just like the man who paid for it.

As Emmy Hildebrand stated about Terry Kahn, he was not flashy nor did he seek the limelight, attention, or recognition, yet he did leave a legacy for others to appreciate and to try to emulate.

Though Kahn was a great modern day example of kindness and selflessness, we know of course, the supreme example that we must follow is the man Christ Jesus himself. He lived his life lowkey, yet with everything he did and said, having a purpose that would have influence long after he was gone. He did not live in a multimillion dollar mansion, nor did he dress in flashy clothing, but was clothed with humility. Jesus stated in Matthew 8:20, “And Jesus saith unto him, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” His clothing most likely consisted of a robe, tunic, and sandals typical of the day. However, his humility was known and seen by all, because of his intentional living.

Jesus stated in Matthew 16: 24-27, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” No, you are not going to make a splash nor receive any glory or accolades by taking up your cross and following Jesus; however, when Jesus finally makes his entrance once again, you will receive rewards for what you have done with what was made available to you in this life.

Jesus admonished us in Matthew 5:46-48, “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Going above and beyond, doing the unexpected and being completely selfless are what will get the attention of God. You will be rewarded, and he will receive glory and honor from your life. A quote by Bro. T.F. Tenny repeated often by my husband is, “God rewards motives for actions.” Is your giving to others, and loving others about ‘making a splash’ or a name for yourself, or is it so that you can genuinely be effective in someone’s life? Is it for recognition, or are you doing it out of a pure heart of love and kindness?

God does not recognize the size of your contribution, but the kindness and sincerity in which it is offered. We see an account in Mark 12:41-44 that illustrates this point. “And Jesus sat over against the treasury and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which made a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.” The little widow basically gave all she had, which is what true sacrifice is, and this is pleasing to God.

In Luke 18:9-14 we see the same principle; even though it has nothing to do with any monetary contribution. “And he (Jesus) spoke this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you; this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.” Again, God sees the motive of our hearts. It is not about fanfare and show, but about the humility and contrite spirit we show before the Lord, which makes the difference. As we read earlier from King Solomon and Job, there is nothing that we have that we have not received from God, and nothing that we have that we can take with us when we leave this world. We need to live intentionally and find out how we can effect change for the better in someone else’s life that will bring glory to God, and that will be lasting, not just a quick, one time splash.

What have you done with what you have been given? In the modern day hero story of Terry Kahn, what those charities and benefactors experienced and benefited from, was not just happenstance. His entire life, he had worked toward making a difference in the lives of others. His college degree was in psychology and public administration, he joined the army, served his country in the Vietnam War, he later worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs at medical facilities, he worked with private health care related foundations, he saved and invested the money he inherited, and he was frugal in spending what he had. He had a Will drawn up in 2010, eleven years before he passed away, with the specific intent that his money would be given away to various charities after he died. He was not flashy, flamboyant, or trying to make a splash, but he was intentional and calculated in his intentions, which was to help others.

A splash does not mean you can swim, and having riches does not mean you can buy love or salvation. Being famous in this world will not automatically mean you will have joy, peace, or happiness. These do not guarantee that you will be remembered nor that you will leave the kind of legacy you are hoping to leave when you are gone. Your bragging, boasting, and ‘tooting your own horn’ may create a ‘splash’ and get you some attention, but it will only be temporary, and could mean that those on the ‘side of the pool’ are just purely annoyed by you.

However, though you may not have millions or anything to give monetarily, if you have the Spirit of God, which manifests itself through love, joy, peace, salvation, happiness, or any other ‘gift’ from God, these can be used to help others in an intentional way daily. Giving our all, no matter how small or great it is, is what will be noticed and rewarded by God, and that will be the true legacy that we leave to those who are left behind to try to emulate. Try reaching out to someone in love today. Do not wait until you are gone. The intentional living and loving we do now is what counts, and what we and others will be the benefactors of. That will be the type of ‘splash’ that will make a difference and have a ripple effect on our world.