Ice cream and foot washing

The Cameroon branch had a conference and retreat a couple weeks ago. One of my favorite parts was hearing members' three-minute shares, short stories or testimonies about everything under the sun. I thought you might also want to hear mine, so here it is:

John 13: 1 says “It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” The story goes on to say, that Jesus washed his disciples’ feet.

On the last evening before I came to Cameroon, my little brother turned to me and said “Let’s go out for ice cream.” When I told him I would go get my wallet, he surprised me by saying, “No, I’ll pay.” You see, my brother didn’t throw around his money. He was an accounting student for good reason. When he said “I’ll pay,” I knew that he wanted to do something special for me. We went out and shared the sweetest bowl of ice cream I will ever eat. The next day, I got on a plane to Yaoundé. I never saw him again. He died in December. But I will always savor the taste of that small act of love.

In turn, I’d like to share a small act of love with all of you. “Let’s go out for ice cream. I’ll pay.”

Then, taking the concept of "sharing" literally, a few friends of mine passed out small packets of ice cream that I had prepared for the 100+ people in the room.