Sweet Moment

I was standing in line at Target yesterday waiting to buy my groceries.  A mom with her little girl who looked to be 7 yr. old was in front of me.  I watched as the little girl patiently waited.  As I watched her I heard in my heart "give that little girl $5".  I rarely have cash but thought if I had a $5 bill in my purse I would give it to her. I DID have one.  My heart started beating fast and I was so excited to do this! I told her mom I had been watching her daughter and how sweetly she was waiting for her mom to finish purchasing her groceries. I asked if I could give her the money I held in my hand for Christmas. The mother smiled and acknowledged that I could.  I walked over to the little girl, talked to her a little and told her Merry Christmas as I gave her the money.  She never said anything but her smile said it all. I talked to the mom about what a sweet girl her daughter was and turned to pay for my groceries. The mom turned around and gave me a cupcake that she had just purchased.  She told me her daughter wanted me to have it and Merry Christmas.  I was so touched by her kindness.  As I was thanking the little girl her smile grew larger.  This all took place in just a few minutes and was a small act, but the blessing that came from it will last much longer.  Each of us are affected by a touch of kindness...either by giving or receiving or like this situation by both. I'll never really know how the exchange I had with this family touched them but as I listen to God and allow Him to lead me I can know that it is in His plan for us to show love to others. 

 

 



Thoughtful

 

My friend Sharon was at my house this week-end. I had my table set with my Christmas dishes.  She told me she has the same dishes. She also buys a dated plate every year. A fun thing about her doing this is at their Christmas dinner each family member uses the plate with the year they were born. Tonight Sharon came over again and this time had a beautiful gift bag which she gave me.  Inside was a beautiful dated Christmas plate.  It didn't have just any date, but the year that our daughter, Amy, went home to the Lord!

 

The plate is so pretty and so meaningful to us...

a very special gift from a thoughtful, sweet friend!

 

 

 

A gift from a friend

I received my first Christmas present today! UPS delivered lots of boxes and I thought they were all gifts I had ordered for others. One return address didn't look familiar and I didn't remember ordering from this company. The reason was... a friend sent me a Christmas gift! This friend is a gift to me all year long! I will always think of her when I use this pretty mug.

Thank you Jenny....

I love my new mug!

 

More than pancakes...

CityLife Church serves...

~by Jim

This summer, as we begin training for missional living, we are scheduling opportunities for our people to connect with the surrounding community. Saturday we had a group set up to feed a pancake breakfast for the families that would be served by 6Stones through New Hope Center. We planned, prepared, and conducted the entire event without any need for the team at New Hope to be involved…but we did have their approval and their blessing on our effort.

As we gathered early Saturday morning we took time to pray together and talk about what it means to be missional. Missional living has been defined in terms of realigning ourselves with the biblical narrative where we adopt a missionary stance in relation to our culture. Living on mission goes far beyond the “what” and “how” of being sent; it hinges on the “who” of other people. It’s about entering into life with other people and intentionally living the gospel wherever we are. What we do must be of value to the people that we encounter, but it is only the foil that gets us there. While we are there we must engage the people and join them on their journey…we must be willing to get outside of our assumptions about life and walk with people as Jesus did. It was our prayer God would circumcise our eyes and hearts allowing us to see what He sees as we served those that came.

As we departed we were aware that the “pancakes” may have met the immediate need…but we were greatly aware that encounters of significance could only happen by taking the first step to be where the people are. It remains our hope that the “ancient way” will be made new to us again.

A favorite pie...

Years ago when we lived in Oklahoma a friend gave me a pie recipe from the tea room where she worked. It is a Peanut Butter Cream Pie. I enjoy making and sharing it with family and friends. Yesterday I made one as a surprise for a friend's birthday and another one for Joshua, my nephew, who came home today from a mission trip to Guatemala. I hope he shares it with us later tonight. I loved blessing others with this pie this week end!


Does your family have a favorite pie?

Random acts of kindness...

This morning I treated myself to a Starbucks. I went at 8:00 and was surprised when I saw a long line of cars at the drive thru. You can enter the drive thru two ways and I realized that the line of cars actually was forming coming from a different direction than me. I was the only car waiting my turn to enter the line from that side. After watching cars going through and no one letting me in I thought I better go around the building and get in line. Just as I was preparing to move, the person in the next car motioned for me to go in front of him. I was thrilled and waved a thank you. As I was pulling up to order I had an idea of another way to thank him. I have always wanted to do this and today was my chance! After I ordered my white chocolate mocha and cranberry scone (my favorites) I told the person taking the order I wanted to pay for the order in the car behind me. I could tell the person was smiling by her response to me. As I pulled up to the window I wondered what they would buy. Turned out to be Chi Tea drink.  I paid for our orders (his was $4.82) and as I drove away wished I could hear what the person getting the drink thought or said when told it was paid for. I left feeling happy, almost giddly, at the fun of being kind to someone I don't know. 

Later in the day Jim called me from Kenya.  He told me the story of being at a pharmacy when a lady came in to get medicine for her baby.  The lady did not have enough money to pay for the medicine. The pharmacist said that because it was for her baby he would let her have it but she must sign something saying she would come back when she got the money and pay for it.  Jim asked how much it was and said, "I will pay for it!" It cost $3.50 in American money.  Jim told about the look on the lady's face and I heard the happiness in his voice as he told the story.  What we gave did not cost us much, but both of us received so much joy and were so blessed.  Just two acts of kindness that hopefully made a difference to those that received them.  I hope you have an opportunity to show kindness to someone soon! I would love to be there to watch the blessing take place.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  Galatians 5:22