Random Acts

Bought pizza for the people at work one night.

Gave a free concert ticket to 2 friends of mine so they could enjoy!

Random Acts

On November 7 at "Which Wich" in Athens, GA shortly before the UGA game. While my wife and I waited for our sandwiches I watched the line and prayed for whom I should buy lunch for. I noticed two young guys, appeared to be brothers, and paid for them before they could pay for themselves. They were caught off guard but quite appreciative.

Random Acts

Our neighbor was diagnosed with cancer this past summer and during the treatment process, her husband abandoned her and moved out. He owns a landscaping company, so their yard boasts of MANY beautiful trees. In the fall, however, these trees produce a gazillion leaves. So our family purchased a bunch of bags and raked and bagged leaves for 3 hours to serve her. She came half way through our surprise to find leaf mountains scattered across her yard. I thought her jaw was going to fall off as she rolled down the window and exclaimed, "What on earth are you people doing!?!"

Not only were we able to serve her in a very practical way, but we also got to connect, chat, and encourage her as we worked. We were also so grateful to work alongside our children as we modeled a servants heart for them. It was quite the workout physically, but the spiritual impact Christ left behind seemed invaluable.

As an extra bonus, it was really fun to see what an impact 'one small act of kindness' made on the entire neighborhood. For the next week, many 'strangers' stopped their cars in the middle of the street to ask if we'd be their neighbors. Most of the time, their reaction was 'priceless' as we were able to explain that our family had been praying about kind things to do for our community and that leaf raking was one item on the list.

When God laid it on our hearts to rake the neighbors leaves, our initial reaction felt like God was asking us to build an ark. But glory to Him, on this day we heard and listened, and we were truly blessed to see how Christ impacted our entire neighborhood through some leaves.

Random Acts

We thought this was pretty funny...my husband saw a homeless man riding his bike with all of his signs- you know, the "will work for food". My husband pulled through a drive-thru and bought the man a meal. When he pulled up beside the man to give it to him- the man refused! He said "You don't want something to eat?" and the man just waved him off. I mean- how bad for you is this food if hungry people are refusing it?

Random Acts

I feel a bit silly about the way this randonm act unfolded but I have since remembered how important it is to laugh at yourself some days too.

I went to quiktrip and was waiting to pay for fuel when a gentleman went up to the other side of the register and paid $5. I looked outside and noticed he had a larger, older car and $5 wasn't going to get very far. As soon as he left out the door I asked the cashier to make his $15. The cashier questioned me on it and I just said sometimes every one needs a random act of kindness. I did not have any cards yet.

well, I paid for my $20 of fuel and went out the door. trying to watch the man's reaction at his pump but trying not to be noticed either. I could hear him grumbling from three pumps away-- "I said$5, gr gr (expletive)" and he stomped back inside to correct the cashier. I rounded the corner to leave and saw the excitement in his face as he ran to his car to tell his (wife?) what had happened and he started pumping fuel again.

It wasn't until 4 or 5 miles later that I realized that I, in my my flurry to go unnoticed, I drove off without pumping any into my car.

I called back to the store and asked the cashier to allow the next person to pump the $20 I had paid for myself. He asked me if I was sure and I just had to admit that sometimes you think giving a certain amount is enough but God wants you to give even more.

:) Made my day.

Random Acts

I work for an ad agency and in our office, there are three account executives who support the work of the account supervisors. I used to directly supervise the executives, but for the past year I have been in a role in which we don't really work together. However, I regularly seek ways to help them grow in their knowledge and speak words of encouragement to them.

Last week, I took these three folks out to lunch. They were curious as to what "the catch" was (which is funny because this isn't the first time I have done this). Anyhow, I said there was no catch. I explained that the work of the people they support is not possible without them and that I remember from the past how much they enrich the work experience of those they support. I thought it was important to remind them of this because their current supervisors aren't really intentional about telling them how good they are.

One of the executives was especially responsive to this act of kindness. He said, "You know, thank you so much for saying that. We need to hear that sometimes. It is nice to know that we are appreciated."

I just thought about how important it is to speak life into people. There is so much negativity in our business that can bring discouragement.

2 Corinthians 2:14-16
14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 17Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.

Random Acts

I went to a corn maze in North Georgia and while it may be out of the community, I was allowed the chance to give away 2 kindness cards. Right before we we're about to leave, I looked down and noticed a cell phone that was on the ground. I picked it up and noticed the number calling was called "mom" and knew that someone had lost their phone. I answered the phone and this lady sounded relieved that she finally got a response. I told her who I was and that I had found the cell phone on the ground and that I would wait there until her daughter came back to pick it up. After a few minutes the group I was with decided to leave the phone at the main desk with the people who we're running the attraction. As we we're leaving a bus of people got off and a hurried woman rushed to the desk and I asked her, "did you lose your phone?". She said "No, but one of the girls I am with did." So I told her the name of the girl who lost the phone and she said that that was the girl and I told her where the phone was and she got it. Them my friend told me that I should give her a kindness card and I remembered them in my pocket and gave that lady one and an extra one to give to the girl who was the owner of the phone.

Random Acts

So last night (Friday) at KFC a woman came in behind our family of 5 - she seemed rather frazzled and my husband let her in front of us. she seemed surprised and explained that she had been in line but had to leave to go to her car. i said "you gave me an great excuse to give you one of these" she read it [our cards] and said - "my husband is in the car, sick with cancer" i will think of you every time I read this. YAH! When we were leaving a man came to our table and said "you have a beautiful family, God bless" we suspected it was her husband.

Today I left a small amount of cash, a random act of kindness card, and a little note that said "please take this and enjoy" in one of the empty gym lockers at the YMCA - it was a lot of fun. My girlfriend, who I've been trying to bring over to Riverstone was having big fun helping me plan our random act, of course, she is way more inquisitive about Riverstone now!

Loving this! Loving Riverstone! Praise God!

Random Acts

We have taken the kindness wins challenge and almost every day, God has given our family one opportunity or another to serve 'outside of our box'. Here are some of the ways God has shown up in our life and others...
- picked up extra trash in a public bathroom (gross!!!) and cleaned up so that it would be better off for everyone who came in next. Used the opportunity to teach the girls how we take care of everything God provides for us.
- picked up all of extra clothes left in a dressing room, hung them up and handed the clothes to the lady working in that department (I thought she was going to faint from shock)
- helped the girls make homemade treats and homemade 'we are thankful for you' cards for their teachers
- cooked dinner for a friend who just lost her mother. spent the evening helping the family laugh. hugged long.
- unexpectedly canceled all of our plans to take in a child for the afternoon so a sleep deprived mommy could nap
- stopped what I was doing to 'just sit on the couch' and snuggle my children. told them how I was proud of them.
- made homemade goodies for neighbor's b-day and dropped them off in her mailbox
- made phone calls to tell friends what I specifically have appreciated about them lately

Random Acts

Gave the the cashier at Chic-fil-a cash to contribute towards the purchase made by the car in line behind me - gave him a card to give them and he smiled really big after looking at it. I think it blessed him as well, I love Chick-fil-a and I love random acts of kindness. Just getting warmed up, gonna try to get creative next!

Random Acts

Writing just to report a random act of kindness....rather than"thinking" up ways to do a random act of kindness, I have chosen to ask the Lord to place opportunity before me and have asked that He help me to not miss it....well, he just put an opportunity in my path "literally" and I went with it. I work at an area high school and I noticed a girl walking down the hallway obviously struggling with a broken ankle and maneuvering crutches! I asked if I could carry her backpack (which weighs about 12 pounds these days)..as we walked she was increasingly apprehensive to walk by open classroom doors. We talked and I found out that this was her first day back from her injury which happened Halloween night) and she was embarrassed and fearful of being made fun of. Hoping that words of kindness and encouragement would help, we continued slowly down the hallway to her class and I will be making connections for her to have the help she needs the next 3 weeks. No one else was around...but I could feel God smiling! Kindness wins!

Random Acts

Last week I went to Wendy's to get a Diet Coke. I was in line behind a green SUV with an Auburn sticker across the back- I would have never noticed except that I'm an Alabama fan and tend to notice those kinds of things. When I got up to the window, the worker shockingly told me that the car in front of me had paid for my Coke. I was surprised, but I have been the "victim" of random acts of kindness before. The workers at Wendy's were FREAKING out about the situation. They kept asking me if I knew the people in front of me, but were shocked when I told them that I didn't. The lady at the window handed me the "Kindness Wins" card, and I immediately recognized it. I don't attend Riverstone, but I have numerous friends that do so I had heard of this idea before. It definitely made my day, but the bigger impact was made on the workers at Wendy's.They were blown away that someone would pay for my Coke- even though it was only a $2 purchase. I don't know if the people that work there caught that it was from a church, but they were definitely impacted by the simple act of kindness.

Random Act

Called a friend today to follow up with a concern she had shared over the weekend.  Let her know I was praying for her

Random Act

This morning, the girls and I sat in front of the computer to watch the Operation Christmas Child Video and to fill our boxes.  After taking a trip to the Dollar Store to pick out 2 plastic shoe boxes and a few items per box, we came home to fill them.  
As usual, the girls overwhelmed me.   Our 4 year old commented that boxes were not full and began to search around the house for treasures to fill in all of the gaps.  She gathered purses and hair bows and ribbons and cars and balls and and shoes (because some of the children were barefoot) and socks (because 'we wear socks with shoes') and snack bags (because kids need snacks), and books (because some of the children were reading) and soap (because some of the kids 'needed to take their baths') and basically anything else that wasn't nailed down.  Before long, we had a pile of items and 2 giddy girls.  So our 2 boxes turned into 5.  We prayed for the boxes and the girls asked if we could deliver them right now. They then wanted to watch the video again to see the kids 'get their boxes'. :-)  They knew that all kids should 'have presents', and their joy of giving was abundant.  And that makes this momma smile!  

Random Act

Here's my story:  (This happened as a pre-Kindness Wins encounter, but I think it still counts!)

 

My husband & I went to BJ's on the EW Connector on Oct. 24.  We were there to shop, but there other divine plans for that timing.

 

We stopped by one of the food sample tables, where an employee was serving pumpkin cheesecake.  A very tall, over six foot, young fellow handed me a sample and as I was tasting the cheesecake, he asked me "Doesn't that taste like gingerbread?".  Of course it did, so I nodded my head "yes".  By this time, my husband was a few aisles away and was not part of the following story.  The tall fellow proceeded to tell me about when he was growing up, he and his grandparents would make these delicious gingerbread men with this certain type of electric baker.  He described the little men that this baker produced and how the Christmas season was so special for him when his now deceased grandparents and especially, his grandfather, made these cookies.  He didn't know where it had gone and mentioned that his father might have taken it when he moved out.  He said he had been looking for this type of baker online and in many stores but could not find anything that resembled it. 

 

I couldn't believe what I was hearing!  As he was talking, I was thinking about my electric gingerbread baker that lay wrapped-up at home in a closet waiting for the holiday baking season to begin.  Could this be the same type of baker he was looking for?  "You know I have one of those at home", came my reply to his astonished face.  "Give your name and number and if I find it, I'll give you a call".  This fellow, Douglas, happily obliged and I caught up with my husband, who had wondered why I took so long at the table.  We finished our shopping and then I couldn't help thinking of the baker, as we drove home.  I thought that this was Douglas' 'prayer' to have one of these.  And aren't we the feet and hands of Jesus here on Earth?  Aren't we a part of granting answers to prayers because of our partnership with the Son?  It delights God to make His children happy.  What better way to serve Him than to be kind and giving!

 

Well, I found the baker easily within 5 minutes of my arrival home and raced back to the store with it.  Unfortunately, Douglas had already left for the day, but I was able to call and arrange a meeting for the following day. 

Douglas was working in the concessions area that next day and so he was easy to find.  I gave him my package and his eyes grew wide with excitement, as he recognized a familiar character in his favorite seasonal memory.  Yes, this was The Baker!  Suddenly, Douglas was hugging me, not once or twice, but three times for this simple answer to his wish.  Such an easy wish to grant! 

 

I asked him about his father and he shared a personal detail about their relationship.  I asked Douglas if he knew Jesus and he said yes, which led me to address his struggle with some encouragement to let God help him through it.  Douglas then opened up about wanting to be a chef and we talked about how to reach that goal with a scholarship through Chattahoochee Tech.  Again, Douglas reminisced about his grandparents and their joyful tradition of baking.  He was going to have a good time this Christmas, because he wanted to honor this vibrant memory with his younger brother and sister.   I asked him his age; just 20 years old and he already had such a maturity and deep compassion for others!  My heart was impressed by this young man.

 

Later in the week, I found my deceased father's almost-new XL down-filled jacket in a closet and called to see if he needed it.  Yes, he did and I found a chance to pass it to him, along with a downloaded invite to the Dreamer's Conference.   I wonder what will happen next?

Random Act

his morning my husband and I took two of our kids, 13 and 8, to Chick-fil-a for breakfast. We were talking about the random acts of kindness and trying to come up with ideas for things we could do this month. As we were talking we noticed four yard maintenance guys outside blowing off the parking lot. We bought 4 chicken biscuits and the kids ran out to give them. I wondered what these guys were going to think- how they would respond..would they be annoyed at the kids interrupting their work? Let me tell you- my son handed out two biscuits, then my daughter handed out the other two and with the last biscuit she handed one of the guys a random acts card. Those guys were smiling from ear to ear. They went and sat down on the curb together and ate their biscuits and we watched as that card was passed around from one guy to the next- all of them wondering what it was all about. They were still smiling after they ate their biscuits and had gone back to work! My kids were thrilled to have made someone so happy with such a little thing!

Random Acts

I have been getting to know a student-Marshal Turner- at Marietta High School where I am a teacher over the last four months. I first started to discuss with him at the end of the day his love of soccer in hopes that he could mentor me as a new parent in the sport. Further, we started to discuss him working with my son on possibly some footwork and fundamentals of the sport. Then, in a video he submitted, I noticed his Riverstone summer camp T! I was in disbelief! How had this never came up. How had I not seen him there?

So from time to time, we have small side chats on what a blessing the church is and what a truly amazing place it is to be apart of it or i will pick on him how I was really serious when I asked him to mentor my son in soccer.

Today he walked in with an instructional video from Challenger Soccer that he said that he still uses from time to time to solidify his own skills and wanted to let my son borrow it and work with it. I was definitely touched by his act of kindness toward supporting his teacher's son in his new endeavour. A true tribute to the people that are lucky enough to call Riverstone home.

Random Acts

Nov 1
After church (and nap time), I sit our 4 and 2 year old daughters down to discuss the goal of a month of demonstrating kindness. After the explanation, I ask them to think of something kind to do today. Ally, our 4 year old, thinks for a minute and then turns to her 2 year old sister and gives her a super sweet, super gentle kiss on the cheek. Ava, the 2 year old, responds by gently stroking Ally's arm like she is a kitty cat. They both smile sweetly, then giggle, and then smile with great pride. Ally then looks at me and beams, 'See mommy, that's kind." It was oh so simple and oh so sweet and oh so encouraging to start at home.
We then sat at the kitchen table together and colored and wrote letters to friends and family we haven't seen in a while. Once we had finished, the girls raced to the mailbox with great excitement to mail the letters.

Nov 2
We call a neighbor who has a 10 day old baby. We volunteer to watch the oldest son for the afternoon while the middle child, baby and mommy nap. At 5PM, we deliver the oldest son home with fresh baked cookies that the children had cooked for mommy. She beamed with joy and gratefulness. So did we.

We are Kindness