Day 52- An RAOK First

Look closely at the picture below and see if you can see my "first."

Do you see it?  Here's a closer picture.

Today for my "first" I taped some money to a vending machine as a random act of kindness. You can tell it's a random act of kindness by the card.  I meant to write "God bless you" or "Jesus loves you" on the card and it just occurred to me that I forgot.  Rats! It doesn't look like there was a lot of room to write much else on it.  Anyway, I read about someone doing this and it sounded like a fun "first."  I decided to do this at the hospital.  There are lots of sad people in hospitals and I thought this might be a good way to lift some unsuspecting person's day. The only person they'll have to thank is the Lord. That's cool to me.  My original plan was to do this on one of the vending machines in the ER.  When I got to the hospital, there were too many people in the ER to be able to put this on a vending machine without being detected (just one or two, but in our ER it's hard to hide from one or two).  I need an Uncle Si to go with me to create a distraction so I can hide my "firsts' when needed. I bailed on the ER and went to a different location.  I really do hope someone finds this that needs a lift to their day.

Joel and Hannah Grace asked me what I did for my "first." It occurred to me that I had played football (I was the quarterback for both teams) and kickball(I was pitcher) with them and a couple of their friends today. That was kind of a first (with these particular friends in the particular format we played today), but I've played football and kickball with them before so that really didn't count. I did throw 6 touchdowns and was intercepted once today.  My completion percentage was not real high. I blame my receivers lack of ability to get separation as the main cause of that.  Plus, there were a few drops.  Even at that, the offense scored almost every time.

Anyway, I told them about my random act of kindness.  We had to go to town tonight and they wanted to go and see if the note and money was still there. So, we went by the hospital and it was still there. They enjoyed going by and checking it out.  That's part of why I'm doing this.  I want my children and others to see that following Jesus is more than just showing up at church. It's about real life that has some sense of adventure to it.  There is sacrifice to be sure.  There is a denying of self.  There are hard days. There is also a sense of adventure knowing we are filled with His love and get to offer His love to others.  Not every day is a day where the adventure is huge.  I love looking for ways to make the ordinary days a bit more exciting.  Jesus said in John 10:10, " The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." The NLT version has it like this: "The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."

I encourage you to look for ways to offer God's love to others and see if you don't experience life more abundantly.

Offering His love to others and finding abundant life

Barry

3 things I thank God for today
1 Playing football and kickball with Hannah Grace and Joel and their friends
2. A really sweet card left by a very kind friend on my desk
3. God's faithfulness
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