Updated: Jan 15, 2022

In "The God Ask," Steve Shadrach tells the story of "a wealthy Catholic woman [who] was gradually dying of cancer. In her final months, her beloved priest visited her every day at the hospital. He did this out of concern for her, but also believing that the childless woman would leave her fortune to the local parish. After her passing and the funeral, the priest attended the reading of the will and to his utter amazement, this faithful, lifelong member did not give anything to her own Catholic church. Instead, she left it all to some local evangelistic association. The bewildered priest tracked down the leader of the organization and fired questions at him. 'Who are you?' and 'How did you know my parishioner?' and 'Why did she leave all of her fortune to you rather than us?' 'Well,' the man admitted, 'I really didn't know her at all. I saw an article in the paper about her and I visited her in the hospital one day. I asked if she would consider giving to our ministry so her life and legacy could live on through touching others for Christ. That's all I did.' Speechless, the priest walked away in shock and regret - blindly presuming his daily praying and caring for the woman would surely result in her leaving her wealth to the parish she loved. He painfully realized his one mistake - he had chosen to assume rather than ask."
Some insights:
Some things in life only come when someone asks.
"You won't get milk from a cow by sending a letter. And you won't get milk by calling on the phone. The only way to get milk from a cow is to sit by its side and milk it." Si Seymour