The girl working at the fast-food drive-through window didn’t know what to make of the envelope she’d been handed. Inside was $10, with instructions to apply it to the bill of the next car in line, and a small card that read, “You have just received a random act of kindness. Together we can change the world — and share Christ’s love one to another.”
The people who gave her the envelope looked normal enough, but this was weird. What happened next was even stranger–the next four cars in line at the drive-through window all “paid it forward” and told her to give the $10 to the car behind them.
There’s something very right about that.
This is just one of many stories that came out of a local church’s efforts to express the heart of God by fanning out across our community on a recent Sunday afternoon to simply “do good.”
One of the ministry teams did home repairs for a 97-year-old woman. When they arrived, the woman had fixed a big platter of fried chicken for them. She said she fixes chicken every Sunday. “Who usually eats it?” they asked. “Whoever I can get to eat it,” this precious lady replied. “Sometimes I go out on the street and call people in to eat it.”
When the men finished working, the lady said, “In all my 97 years, no one has ever been as nice to me as you were today.”
At her age, no one would expect this woman to keep giving…but she does, even though apparently, few people have been nice to her in return.
There’s something very right about her determination to continue loving others.
Another ministry team from the church went to Hospice House to deliver flowers and offer prayer for patients and family members. A 15-year-old on this team was a bit nervous about entering the room of a dying person. But having a seriously ill little brother herself, she remembered how desperately people need encouragement when they are in that bed or at that beside, so she overcame her anxieties and went into the room alone to minister to this family.
There’s something very right about that.
Another team gave free car washes, meeting person after person who couldn’t believe there wasn’t a “catch” to this act of kindness. The same was true of the team that gave out free quarters at a grocery store where a 25-cent deposit is required to get a shopping cart. That group watched joyfully as many of the folks they had blessed turned around and gave their carts to others as they left, paying it forward.
There’s something very right about that.
All of us who went out that Sunday afternoon noticed something: unexpected kindness truly surprises people. It gets their attention. It makes them curious.
As Christians, we certainly want others to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, for we believe it is the message of life. But we must remember that others may not want to hear that truth until they see it lived out in those of us who claim to believe it.
Being nice and doing good won’t get us to heaven, but it may bring heaven closer to those who see us being nice, doing good, and giving lavishly of our time, energy, money and love.
There’s something very right about that.
“Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share…” (1 Timothy 6:18)