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Rights vs. Responsibilities, Owners vs. Stewards

While scouting locations for a popular TV series, an advance team came upon the perfect site for an action scene—an impressive house with a beautiful, large, lush, green lawn. The script called for the cars to be spinning out of control and crashing on the lawn, tearing out shrubs and mowing down flower beds. The residents of the south Florida home were so infatuated by the possibility of having their house prominently featured on a prime-time TV show that they eagerly gave their consent.

Days later, the film crew arrived and began shooting the scene. Cars driven by Hollywood stunt drivers were soon racing wildly across the front lawn, violently ripping up the beautiful grass, shrubs and flowers.

That was when a neighbor called the owner of the house—in New York!

You see, the TV scouts had asked the residents of the house for permission to film, not realizing that they were only tenants who had absolutely no authority to allow the property to be harmed, much less destroyed. Understandably, the owner in New York was not a happy man, the TV director was embarrassed, and the residents were soon looking for a new place to live.

Renters are not owners; they are stewards. The biggest difference between renters and owners can be defined with two words: rights and responsibilities.

Owners have rights.

Stewards have responsibilities.

From a sermon by Freddy Fritz, Wholehearted Stewardship, 11/7/2009

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