She gave me pop, I gave him coffee

   The year was either 1990 or 1991. I was home for the summer from Bible college, and working for PENNDOT, Pennsylvania's road department. They had a summer work program for college students, and I worked two summers for them, mostly holding a stop sign.

   This one day was a hot day, one of those really hot July days, and it was even hotter standing out by the road with a stop sign. As I turned my sign to "SLOW", a car stopped beside me and a woman leaned across the seat and handed me a cold can of pop. I thanked her, and she took off, never to be seen by me again. That has been over twenty years ago, and I still remember it.

  I was out shopping today, and stopped at the mall to get one of my favorite things: Bourbon Chicken from Asian Chao. There was a man probably in his 50's standing in between the two sections of doors, ringing the bell for the Salvation Army. We each said "hi" and I went into the food court and ordered my food. While I was eating, I could see him walking around in that cold section between the inner and outer doors, occasionally looking through the glass into the food court. The thought hit me, "You should get him something." Uh, but what. My eyes fell on the Dairy Queen. Definitely not... he already looked cold. I kept eating, still feeling like I should get him something. I finished, and headed to the bathroom. While in there, it hit me: coffee. Well, no coffee hit me, but the idea. I decided if there was a place in the food court that had coffee, I'd buy him a cup.... and there was. I ordered a small one for $1.99, dug a bill out of my wallet, and walked out the first set of doors. I put the bill in the pot, and asked him if he drank coffee. He said he did, and I handed the coffee to him and said if he wanted cream and sugar, he could get it inside. He thanked me and said that was a nice thing to do, and I went my way.

   It wasn't much, especially in the grand scheme of things, whatever the grand scheme of things is, but the thought hit me as I got into my car, "Why don't we do things like this more often?" I don't do it often enough. I do the occasional good deed, but I don't normally blog about it or even tell anyone, which is the way it should be. The people who do something for others without expecting something in return is rare......and no, I'm not polishing my halo as I speak. Outside of my family, I don't do it nearly enough. I admit it.

   Jesus said in Mark 9:41 "For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward." (NKJV)...... so it must be a big deal to Him. The verse seems to imply people will be blessed by Him if they give even a cup of cold water to those who belong to Him...... a cup of coffee would probably apply too...... so does that mean we just do good to those who we know are serving God? I doubt it. I think God would be pleased when we do good to anyone, especially someone who isn't likely to give us anything back.

  The truth is, too many of us are selfish. Oh, we'd like to think we aren't. We give gifts at Christmas to those who give us, we invite people over for a meal who have us to their house..... but how Christ-like is it to just give to those who give to us?

  When my sisters and I were kids, there were a few years that my family bought gifts for people who we knew were having it rough. One year, the brother of a good friend was overseas in the military, and his wife was having a rough time of it. We didn't know her, but bought gifts for her and her small children. That's been too many years ago for me to remember if she knew where they came from or not, but it felt good.

  We want our toys, our comfortable lives, and are willing to help those in our own family, and maybe at church if we are feeling particularly charitable, but nothing more.

  Sometimes I wonder what God really thinks of us. Christians should be the most loving, happy, charitable, giving, friendly people there are, but too many of us are unfriendly grumps who want to hold onto everything we have tightly........ oh, not everyone is like that, but I fear there are too many who are.

  If we know of someone who is having it rough financially, it would be a good thing to help out in some way. If someone we know is discouraged, find something to do for them. Take them out to eat, give them a small gift and/or card to let them know you care.

  This journey through life, headed hopefully for Heaven, is not all about us. We need to be reaching out, loving, giving. Sometimes even a smile will help, or a coffee or pop. We may never know the difference it could make.

  I heard a true story a few years ago that is sad: I can't remember what the young man was going through, or if it even said, but a young man was having a bad time of it, and felt no one cared. As a last resort, he walked into a Christian bookstore, hoping someone would reach out to him, but alas, no one even spoke to him or acknowledged him. He went home, left a note, and took his own life.

 I'm not saying the employees there were responsible for his death, but I am saying we never know what people are going through who we meet, sometimes we don't even know what people are going through that sit in the church pew across the aisle. We need to do more, love more, reach out more..... we could give someone a push towards God they need, and who knows, we could even save a life.

  This story was shared on Facebook this week. I assume it is true, but I was so impressed that I didn't check its authenticity, but shared it there, and am sharing it here:

One day, when I was a freshman in high school,
I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school.
His name was Kyle.
It looked like he was carrying all of his books.
I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday?
He must really be a nerd.'
 I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

 As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him.
They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt.
His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him...
He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes.
My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.
As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys are jerks.'
They really should get lives.
' He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!'
There was a big smile on his face.
It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.
I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived.
As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before.
He said he had gone to private school before now.
I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.
We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books.
He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.
I asked him if he wanted to play a little football
With my friends.
He said yes.
We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.
Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.
I stopped him and said, 'Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!
' He just laughed and handed me half the books.
Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends.
When we were seniors we began to think about college.
Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke.
I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never
Be a problem.
He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship.
Kyle was valedictorian of our class.
I teased him all the time about being a nerd.
He had to prepare a speech for graduation.
I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak.
Graduation day, I saw Kyle.
He looked great.
He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school..
He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.
He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him.
Boy, sometimes I was jealous!
Today was one of those days.
I could see that he was nervous about his speech.
So, I smacked him on the back and said, 'Hey, big guy, you'll be great!'
He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled....
' Thanks,' he said.
As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began...
'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years.
Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends....
I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.
I am going to tell you a story.'
I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the first day we met.
He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.
He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home.
He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.
'Thankfully, I was saved.
My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.'
I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.
I saw his Mom and Dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.
Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.
Never underestimate the power of your actions.
With one small gesture you can change a person's life.
For better or for worse.
God puts us all in each others lives to impact one another in some way.
Look for God in others.