When Hunter Shamatt lost his wallet, he had little hope he’d get it back, certainly not with interest. But he did. Hunter was on the way from South Dakota to his sister’s wedding in Las Vegas earlier this month when he left his wallet on the airplane. It held the 20-year-old’s ID and debit card, as well as $60 and a signed paycheck. Hunter was “fearing the worst that everything was gone,” his mother Jeannie Shamatt wrote in a Facebook post.

Luckily, Todd Brown, the man who found it, is a believer in paying it forward. He mailed everything back, and then some. Brown included a note that read: “Hunter, found this on a Frontier flight from Omaha to Denver—wedged between the seat and wall. Thought you might want it back. All the best … PS. I rounded your cash up to an even $100 so you could celebrate getting your wallet back. Have fun!!!”

That’s right. While others may have snatched the cash, Brown gave the kid some more. “I saw he was just a kid, 20 years old, he had a paycheck in there, so I figured, ‘Well, he’s doing his best to make ends meet.’ I was 20 once, and that’s a lot of money for a kid,” Brown reasoned. He decided not to give the wallet to the flight crew. “I thought about it, but I just wanted to make sure he got it back,” Brown told Yahoo Lifestyle.

Jeannie posted again on Facebook to gush about Brown. “I personally want to thank Todd Brown … for restoring faith that there are amazing people out there, the world is not as grim as it’s being made out to be,” she wrote. Brown never expected to get so much attention. “I just wanted to do the right thing, it always feels good to do the right thing,” he said.

Possible Preaching Angles: 1) Grace of God; Restoration; Salvation, gift of - God not only restores what we've lost through our own fault; by grace he lavishes us with more gifts than we could ever imagine (Eph. 1:7). 2) Generosity; Loving others – As we have experienced God’s amazing grace, His light should shine through us to others to the glory of God (Matt 5:16).

Source: Maggie Parker, “Good Samaritan returns lost wallet, and adds money to it: 'I rounded your cash up to an even $100 so you could celebrate',” Yahoo News (11-20-18)