"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help
the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed
to give than to receive.'" - Acts 20:35
Wallace E. Johnson was born in 1902 into a poor farm family in Edinburg,
Mississippi. He learned carpentry as a teenager and later worked in a sawmill,
lumber yard and as a building supply salesman. He went into the home-building
business in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 38, with a $250 loan. Within a few years
his business was the largest and most successful in the South. In 1952, he
joined with Kemmons Wilson to form the motel chain Holiday Inn. Together, they
built Holiday Inn into one of the largest motel chains in the world.
In 1966, Johnson and Kemmons built Medicenters of America, Inc.
Wallace Johnson was also a Christian who insisted there be a Bible in each
Holiday Inn room.
He said: "The one reason why we've always had an open Bible in every room in the
Holiday Inn motels is to help people find Jesus and the solution to their
problems, no matter who they are."
Johnson and his wife Alma were deeply involved in their church in Memphis,
Tennessee and he also gave liberally to Christian causes.
He once said: "I am totally dependent on God for help in everything I do.
Otherwise I honestly believe I would start to fall apart in months."
How's your giving to the Lord? Today in prayer, ask the Lord for wisdom on
giving and seek to give as He allows you to give.
"The basic question is not how much of our money we should give to God, but how
much of God's money we should keep for ourselves," - J. Oswald Sanders
God's Word: "But just as you excel in everything--in faith, in speech, in
knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us--see that you also
excel in this grace of giving." - 2 Corinthians 8:7
By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2002, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN ACTS
pkennedy@devotional.com
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