By Ben Disney
KANSAS CITY, MO (AP) February 25, 2013 - Billy Ray Harris is homeless. He frequently panhandles on Kansas City's Country Club Plaza, and most nights you’ll find him sleeping under a bridge. Sarah Darling is a resident of Kansas City and proudly wears an engagement ring given to her by her fiancé. She rarely takes the ring off, but for some reason she slipped it off for a moment and placed it in her coin purse. On Saturday, Sarah Darling walked through downtown Kansas City and saw Harris asking for help. Without thinking, she dumped spare change from her coin purse, along with her engagement ring, into his cup.
Darling was horrorstruck when she realized the next day what she had done. She went back to Harris, squatted beside him and told him that she might have given him something valuable.
"Was it a ring?" he recalled asking her. "And she says,'Yeah.' And I said 'Well, I have it.'"
Sarah Darling expressed her relief and gratitude, then gave Harris all the cash she had in her wallet at the time.
"It seemed like a miracle," Darling said. "I thought for sure there was no way I would get it back."
"I think in our world we often jump to like the worst conclusion, and it just makes you realize that there are good people out there," said Sarah Darling, whose fiancé set up a website seeking donations for Billy Ray Harris, the man who found the ring. By Monday, more than 6,000 people had donated more than $145,000 to the fund.
In explaining why he didn't keep the ring, Harris said he had a religious upbringing. "My grandfather was a reverend," Harris said. "He raised me from the time I was 6 months old and thank the good Lord - it's a blessing - but I do still have some character."
So what’s the point of the story and why would I use it for an article in a church email? Because chances are you’re like most of us. Most weeks we find ourselves besieged by an avalanche of bad news and surrounded by stark reminders of all that’s wrong with this world. Then we come across a story like this. It reminds us of how much good there still is in this world, and it gives us hope. I’m guessing some of you have heard all the bad news you care to hear for a while. So for just a moment, take a break and hear some much needed good news. Maybe it will help you put things in a better perspective.
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