Have you seen the movie “Blind Side?” Sandra Bullock won an Academy Award for her role in the movie. It’s one of the best I’ve seen lately. It’s about a wealthy suburban family that takes in and, eventually, adopts a boy from urban Memphis who needs a home and a caring family. It’s a heart-warming story, based on a true story, with Hollywood flourishes. For example, the real-life family on whom the book and movie is based never eats home-cooked meals, such as what you see in the picture (left). Their house in suburban Memphis doesn’t even have a full kitchen! They are unusual.

What would compel a family to reach out to a homeless boy with all his emotional baggage? The movie alludes to it and you probably guessed it. They are followers of Jesus Christ and they saw the boy, Michael, as a child of God. Their gift of time, energy and home was all part of their life of stewardship. These values are more explicit in their book, In a Heartbeat – Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving, by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy. What the Tuohys want their readers to know is that their giving ways came before their wealth.

They consider their greatest gift as the gift Michael brought them when he came into their lives.

We have a different view of life now. Once Michael came into our lives our eyes were opened. We’ve seen hardship in this country that we refuse to look away from. Our family has come to understand how many children have desperate wants – and how little it takes to help fill them.

They add, “Cheerful giving is what we do, and we’d just like to do more of it.”

I recommend the Tuohys’ book to you. Like their lives, it is not preachy, but you get the message through their actions.