Avoiding Evil

I was so excited today because when I went to get gas it was $1.16 a gallon, which is the cheapest gas has been in a long time. On my way to the gas station I realized that they must be filming the new remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds, because when I looked up into the sky I saw nothing but a big dark form of birds flying around. In fact I have never seen so many birds in my life. It didn’t matter which window or mirror I looked out of in my car, you could not see the sky, all you could see was thousands of birds. And then it hit me… literally. Large white piles of bird dung came tumbling out of the sky like I had never seen before. Splat.. splat…splat…splat… splat…splat…splat, all over my front window, my hood, and just about everywhere else on my car. It was like the 11th plague that God forgot to do to the Egyptians so he thought he would just let it go on Fenton today while I was driving. It looked like I had just drove through the bird exhibit at the St. Louis Zoo. What a mess.

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Ok, slightly changing the subject, tonight I went out to grab me something to eat before I went to the Church to do some work. I went to sonic because they take credit card and I had no cash. While I was there I pulled up and another person was parked next to me, and lo and behold when I got my food and was ready to pay the bill the lady told me that the person who was parked next to me had paid for my meal before they left. How awesome is that, what a wonderful way to show kindness and love to people. It really brings home to me the fact that we are to love people, and one of the ways to show that is just a random act of kindness. This has happened to me once before when me and two other friends went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant and the guy that was sitting next to us paid for all of our meals on his way out. It is a wonderful feeling to know that there are people who truly show the love and kindness of Christ to others. What amazes me the most is that I am around more people who gripe, complain, and have negative attitudes so much that when some act of kindness happens to me I am utterly shocked at it, and I work in a Church. *sigh*

The thing is, for me it is God who gets the glory for what this person has done for me. I praise and thank God that there are kind loving people who love him and love others out there in the world. God deserves the praise for all good things that happen in our lives, because all good gifts are from the Lord. When you have an opportunity just take the time to show someone that you care about them, or just do a random act of kindness to someone. Pay for their meal, buy their groceries at Wal-Mart, hand someone an encouraging card, or anything that just loves people. What a wonderful way to share the warmth and love of Christ, especially during this time of year.

Have you ever done something like this, or has someone ever done it to you? Please share your experience and how it made you feel in the comments section below.

Pressed

COMMENTS

Well you took the incident that I would tell at the Chinese place. I still think he was Santa Clause. He looked like it.

Have I done something like that? I have spent a bunch of money for ice cream for my kids that don’t have the money for it on Friday. I do lots of stuff like that. But I think most teachers do.

You get free donuts all the time at Krispy Kreme. Every single time! That poor guy just gave you money to get some more.
Posted by: Christopher on December 2, 2002 10:00 PM

I remember that too… Do I look poor or something? Posted by: Pressed on December 2, 2002 10:18 PM

Wow! What a story! That is so totally awesome and God really works in mysterious ways sometimes. Thanks for sharing that with me because it made my day. Yesterday, when my parents and I were involved in a car accident, a couple two cars behind us stopped and stayed with us until the paramedics came, all the while praying for us and making sure we were okay. It really made it easier and really blessed my heart to know that there still are good people out there. So often I forget that I’m not the one that I should be serving, this life is not my own, it’s God’s and He desires for me to serve Him by serving others. I try to keep that in the forefront of my mind no matter what I’m doing, but sometimes I just slip and let my selfish pride take over. That’s when God brings me back to reality by allowing something to happen to wake me up. God is so faithful.
Posted by: Kendall Vawter on December 2, 2002 11:14 PM

Just a couple of weeks ago Erin took a girl to Wal-Mart and to get her hair cut. She was from Russia and doesn’t have a car. She didn’t have enough money to get her hair cut so Erin paid for her. It was such an awesome story of how her face lit up when she felt so beautiful from getting her hair done. It even made me feel all warm inside. Erin showed her the awesome love of God.
Posted by: Alison on December 3, 2002 12:12 PM

re: birds — once, on a trip back from Fort Worth to colorado, we went on this obscure road in New Mexico, and watched in horror as 6 (six!) birds kamikaze-ed into our car. it got to the point where birds would fly out from the roadside weeds, and i’d flinch and swerve in panic.
Re: generosity. One easy and genuine blessing is to pay for the person behind

you the next time you go through the express lane at the grocery store. I’ve done this numerous times, and its always a joy to see the look of a person blessed by kindness.
Posted by: bryan on December 3, 2002 09:35 PM