Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds

11:11: Thirty Days of Thanks and Giving


My daughter and I spent a morning running "kindness errands".  First, we ran to the post office with huge stacks of hand-made cards for the soldiers at Fort Hood. The children responded in such an awesome way with reminders of Jesus's love,quoted scripture,drawings of flags and fireworks. My wife had helped us bundle them with twine so that we could more easily carry the huge abundance of cards into the post office. My daughter helped me find the largest bulk-rate mail box and we addressed it and mailed the cards to the soldiers of Fort Hood. It was an incredible success and it made me and my daughter smile to know that we were part of offering the service members that much love,encouragement and proud support.

Next we made a trip to Wal-Mart. Tonight, I am cooking a meal for a family from our church. Their young son got very sick and was diagnosed with a Wilm's tumor, a malignant mass on one of his kidneys. He has had to undergo several surgeries but is now going through chemotherapy and radiation. This family is very faithful and devoted to spreading the love of Christ. It is the least I can do to make them dinner tonight. Becca helped me choose a pasta to cook,some marinara sauce and meatballs. Becca also wanted to get Nathan,the young boy who is sick, a special gift of a toy. We picked out some Play-doh in really bright colors.

When we were finished at Wal-Mart, we went to the Salvation Army to donate a large box of clothes. Then we dropped by to see Becca's grandmother at work. We talked to her for a minute and picked up a few more things. Then headed home.

Our day of "kindness errands" isn't over yet.

Please leave me comments and suggestions of other kind acts that I can do this month. We are having so much fun helping others that we probably won't stop when the month is over. We are becoming "kindness addicts". Please keep following this blog and everything we are going to do this month and through the holidays to help others.

Big Love.

Small Kindness.

I have to admit that the acts of kindness I have been doing the last few days are quite small. I helped a customer at my store pay the last bit of their grocery bill and I pushed up my neighbor's trash bin from the curb when I was doing my own. I have found myself doing so many small kindness. I don't know that I was ever a rude or unkind person but certainly a selfish one. Now I hardly let an opportunity for kindness pass. If I can do good for another person then I will. Period.

I have been working hard lately on my attempts to get cards and letters for the soldiers of Fort Hood. I have had lots of positive messages sent my way and support. I have I know at least two classrooms dedicating a small amount of class time to making cards to support the soldiers and honor Veteran's Day. My church is becoming involved as well and the youth will be making cards this Wednesday night. I have so many kind people participating in some small way that it is becoming quite a BIG thing.

Twenty Three Days of Thanks and Giving

Not sure what this is all about? Here is the challenge: Thirty Days of Thanks and Giving

I have to admit that doing small acts of kindness becomes sort of addicting after a little while. It isn't always easy. Pride and selfishness get in the way at first and you may think you are going to come off as silly or sort of soft but it is completely worth it when you feel that "good and pleasant" feeling after a random kind act. Psalm 133:1  "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" [1]

I find myself doing small acts of kindness all the time now. I mean some of them are very small things such as holding open doors or picking up items that people have dropped. It is little things like helping a shorter person to reach something that they couldn't on their own or other little courtesies. I find myself in a constant state of encouragement and this challenge has opened my eyes to how many opportunities for kindness and encouragement we let pass in a day out of fear of hurting our egos. 

I am still working on my card and letter campaign which I have decided to call the "Care Campaign". I will be dropping off collection boxes for cards at my daughter's school and my church on Monday morning..If you would like to participate but don't live close enough for my drop-off locations then the address to mail letters and cards of support is:

Morale, Welfare, & Recreation
c/o Support for the Troops
Bldg 194 37th St
Fort Hood, TX 76544

If you are local to Oklahoma City then you can use either of these locations to drop off cards:

Community
Christian School
3002 Broce Drive
Norman, OK 73072

(Elementary Desk)

Heartland
Community Church
8309 S Santa Fe Ave
73139-8214

("The Bus")

Please look for the blue gift-wrapped box and put your cards in the slot.  Get your friends, family members, school,church, work place or other organizations involved. Please write brief and encouraging messages of support and feel free to send children's drawings and notes. Reflect the love of Jesus to our service members by honoring them with your thanks and appreciation. Please have your card or letter ready to be mailed by 11/11/2009 Veteran’s Day. That is this Wednesday.

Here are some simple guidelines for you...

Do...
    * Sign all cards (even if it is just the name of your organization or class i.e.. "Ms. McCraken's Second Graders")
    * Entitle cards “Dear Service Member, Family or Veteran”
    * Write messages of encouragement and support.
    * Feel free to design and make homemade cards or help children make cards
    * Bundle groups of cards in single, large envelopes

Don’t...
    * Include personal information such as home or email addresses
    * Write inappropriate or angry messages or focus too much on the negative
    * Send money,checks, or other gifts instead donate to the American Red Cross

Don't worry I will have more stories of my small random acts of kindness but really would like to see this "Care Campaign" come together and touch the lives of many service members. I will be doing a few other card drives and a care package collection this month and up to the holidays. I plan of working with American Red Cross Holiday Mail For Heroes later this month as well. Feel free to participate with me or on your own.

I would still love comments,suggestions, or stories. Please share this blog with others and tell a friend (tell ten!). Thank you.

Big Love.

Twenty Four Days of Thanks and Giving

Here is the challenge: Thirty Days of Thanks and Giving

Day 6:

I dropped by the firehouse yesterday morning. I had bought about fifteen boxes of multi-grain fruit bars and wanted to give them to the firefighters at the station. I have watched too many movies maybe because I expected to see a bunch of guys kidding around and lifting weights waiting on the clanging alarm to slide down the pole to their truck. Maybe the fire station is like that when I am not there but all I saw of it was administrative offices and  four men in their fifties (and while still more fit than I am) did not look ready to extinguish a strong "back draft". None of the guys resembled anything like Kurt Russell. I gave the older men a big cardboard box full of packages of nutritious breakfast snacks and received a polite "Thank you." in return and a promise to give the snack bars to "our guys" when they got back. I wonder if they were off fighting a fire? I walked out a little disappointed that a spotted dalmatian didn't follow me down the stairs and out to my truck. So much for my hero worship of firemen.

I drove from there to the post office. I had cards to mail to my father and brother in honor of Veteran's Day and to let them know how much I appreciate their military service. My father is a retired Air Force captain who served in Asia during the Vietnam conflict. My brother is active duty enlisted Army and currently deployed to Iraq. The radio was talking about the tragic shootings at Fort Hood,Texas. My heart began to ache a little bit and I found myself wishing that I could somehow reach the soldiers stationed there and encourage them. I wanted to let them know that most Americans (regardless of how they feel about our involvement in the two wars) still support the soldiers. As I dropped my brother's card into the big blue mailbox, it occurred to me that I could reach out to the soldiers of Fort Hood. Why couldn't I write them cards or letters? I could write them and get other people to write them. Brainstorming now, I got a little excited remembering how much my brother enjoyed being sent my daughter's drawings and I decided to ask her to draw something for the soldiers. If I was going to involve my daughter, then why not her classmates? Next thing I know, I am on the phone with the principal of my daughter's school organizing a card and letter writing campaign. By that afternoon, I had an address to send the cards to and the support of my daughter's school and my church family.

I have just started putting all of this together but already it seems like it is turning into a pretty "Big" small act of kindness. I will continue with my challenge of thanks and giving through small random acts of kindness but now I have something else to focus on too. I am going to spend this month coordinating my first letter and card campaign and then a holiday care package mailing for soldiers currently deployed in the Middle East. I want to show the soldiers that their sacrifices are not taken for granted or forgotten.

As always, please comment with suggestions,stories of shared kindness, or offers to help me with my new mission to help American soldiers and show some Thanks through Giving. Thank you to all who have been reading this month and especially those brave few who commented. Keep following my kindness challenge and see how my attempts to encourage American soldiers turns out. I will try not to disappoint you.

Big Love

Twenty Five Days of Thanks and Giving

This is the challenge: Thirty Days of Thanks and Giving

This is sort of Two-Fer Twenty Five Days of Thanks and Giving post. It is my second post today and it is also a "two-fer" in the sense that I doubled my acts of kindness today. Why not order up a little extra kindness today? Here goes:

Day Five:

It is about a mile walk to the police station and home again from my house. It is a little over a mile if you make a few stops along the way. I discovered this on my morning walk this morning. I always walk a few miles in the morning for exercise and time alone to clear my head and prepare myself for my day. I usually just leash the dog and take off for the park. Today, I wanted my walk to be a little more meaningful. I started walking west and made a quick stop at the donut store. I bought a big box of donuts and headed towards "Old Town" Moore and the local police station. As I walked, I was passed by patrol car after patrol car. I started thinking how safe it makes me feel to know that I have that many officers ready to respond if I needed them. Each officer turned their head my way as they passed. It was like police officers get some sort of donut-seeking radar when they get out of their training academy. I smiled and waved and made my way to the station. When I got there the lobby was open but the window was closed. I picked up the phone thinking it called the other side of the glass and wound up speaking with a dispatcher. She was friendly and I explained what I was doing. She told me she would have an officer out to me in a minute. In just a minute or two an officer opened the door and with sort of a serious police officer half-smile accepted my show of thanks. I told him, "I wanted you guys to know that you are appreciated. You always come when I call and I am thankful for that." He thanked me and shook my hand before disappearing back into the station with the donuts.

I immediatly walked back towards home but I planned my walk to hit two more stops. I went by a conveinence store and bought a 16oz hot chocolate and a banana. I took my walk by the elementary school in our neighborhood. As I approached the school, the crossing guard immediatly met me and helped me across the street. She is a woman that I go to church with and someone I know to have a very giving and God-serving heart (but still qualifies as I really don't know her well). I see her helping the children cross the street in wind,rain, cold or whatever conditions with a servant's heart. Today, I decided to serve her. As she helped me cross the street, I held out my hands and offered her the hot chocolate and banana. At first, she tried to refuse but then she began to smile a little and took the breakfast from me. I dashed off but hoped that the drink kept her warm and the fruit kept focused as she helped so many small children on their way to school.

Police officers and crossing guards are people who serve me every single day. I just wanted to show a little kindness and serve them a little something this morning.

Now to leash the dog and serve him to his morning walk. As always comments are appreciated and suggestions of new acts of kindness are gladly accepted. Big LOVE.

Twenty Six Days of Thanks and Giving

The challenge is: Thirty Days of Thanks and Giving

Well, I have completed four days of my challenge. I spent yesterday feeling sorry for myself over a stupid situation. Something that I own that is more luxury than necessity has stopped working correctly. I am talking about my cell phone. So I spent the morning arguing with my carrier and the rest of the day frustrated that I didn't get what I wanted from them. It was my most selfish day this month so far.

As I thought about it and talked to my wife about it, I realized how much I have. I have a wife and a family. I have a new foster daughter. I have a home. I have a vehicle. I am working. I have central air and I am warm when it is cold and I am cool when it is hot. I am not exposed to rain,sleet, or ice. I have indoor plumbing. I take one or two showers a day. I can eat any time I want to. I am blessed.

How selfish was it of me to be so upset over my phone? Honestly, the phone works but it does not work as well as I would like. I was thinking of myself as disadvantaged but really I am merely inconveinenced. It got my mind thinking about people that don't have homes,families,hygeine or food.

I was going to dinner with my family at a pizza place that we like in the city. It is one introduced to us while meeting a non-profit charity there a couple times a month. We take the 23rd street exit and every time (and I mean every time), I see a man standing there. It isn't always the same man but their sign is the same message. It is some variation of "Hungry. Please help." and every time I pass that man and drive on to eat pizza and to help this non-profit but not once have I done anything to help feed the homeless and hungry man right outside my window.

Before leaving home, I packed a sack lunch in a brown paper bag. I made a ham sandwich on wheat bread. I grabbed an apple. I found a snack cake and a few pieces of the kid's Halloween candy. I had a packet of single serve drink mix and a bottle of water. I put it all together in the brown bag and wrote a quick note, "Don't forget that you are loved." This time I was prepared to help.

As we took our usual exit, there was the man. He was pacing the concrete island. He looked discouraged and I wondered what it was like to be him. He was alone and in the cold. He held a sign that said, "Hungry". I rolled down my window as we were stopped at the light. I called him over. "Sir! Sir, this is for you." His eyes got big and there was so much gratitude there as he realized I was handing him food and water. He said, "God BLESS you!" As I watched in my rearview the man finding a place to sit and eat and drinking his water, I thought...God already has blessed me!

I wondered how long I could remember to make a sack lunch for the homeless men at the stop lights on the exits from the highway. Hopefully just as long as I remember how blessed I truly am and how the Lord has provided for me and wants me to be His provision to others.

Keep following this challenge. I would appreciate any comments or suggestions. Please pass the word on this challenge and let's see if we can make these small acts a BIG inspiration in the lives of our friends and family. Praise God.

Twenty-Eight Days of Thanks and Giving

For those who missed it (or forgotten already? Really... lay off the recreational!) Here is the challenge: Thirty Days of Thanks and Giving

Day Two/Three:

I wasn't sure what to do that could work out as well as the first experiment. I kept trying to think of something bigger and better. The harder I tried to think of something to top the day before the less I could muster an idea. I never could think of anything and gave up!

What? Challenge ends on the second day? What a downer! Total kindness fail.

Finally, I decided "Big" was sort of the opposite of what I was trying to accomplish. It didn't have to be a "Big" act. The point was to do something,anything that took my focus off of myself for a moment. I decided to do two small acts on Day Three (one was a do-over for my fail on Day Two). I packed up my closet and went through all of my old clothes. I packed up two boxes for the Salvation Army. Inside the pocket of one shirt I placed a small piece of artwork that I had made with the simple words, "You Should SMILE more" and on the other side, "You are LOVED". I imagine someone at Salvation Army finding it while going through the clothes to hang or maybe it will slip through and someone will find it after buying it and it will brighten their day. I can hope.

I decided to let the Lord show me something today. I went to lunch with a friend to catch up and to give him some of my old clothes that are dress-code for the store I used to work at with him. We had a waiter who was obviously new and nervous. I could tell the kind of day he was having and could see the stress building as the restaurant got more and more crowded. He didn't make a single mistake on my order and gave good service despite obviously being a little nervous. I wrote an encouraging note on the back of the bill telling the waiter how I appreciated the good service and what a good job he had done for me. I slipped a generous tip in with the bill and left the table hoping that this small kindness made him a little more confident and improved his day. Sometimes all it takes when you are new at something to build your confidence is just a little bit of praise.

So there you go... Day Two/Day Three and hopefully, I keep finding ways to give and be thankful. I am a little disappointed that no one decided to comment. The comment button is at the bottom of the page. Please leave me some suggestions,stories, interaction,okay...I will accept encouragement. Anything at all. Please just comment.