Good & Kind

I’m on vacation as I’m writing this. My 89 year old father lives in Virginia, I’m in NW Kansas, so that involves a long car drive plus a couple of planes to get here.

I’ve been learning that I may be the only Jesus some people may see. I need to represent Him well.

As I was anticipating this trip I was thinking about the possibilities of how I would show Jesus’ love to others. I thought maybe there might be someone in the airport I could purchase a cup of coffee for or maybe I could give some encouragement to a person I was sitting next to on one of my flights. After I arrived in Virginia I realized that there weren’t any magical moments on my travel day that I had thought would happen. Maybe on my return trip . . .

It’s amazing how God puts things into perspective! After I had been here for a couple of days I decided I wanted to see what the coffee shop scene was in Richmond. Thanks to a quick google search & GPS, my dad & I took off with a list of places we were gonna check out.

The first two were a bust! Not sure how old this list from google was but they were both closed – not for the day but, literally closed! (google needs an update). We finally found one – WISK. It had French pastries that were incredibly delicious!

On to the next one . . . Rostovs! I was wanting to get some fresh roasted coffee beans for my son who appreciates the art of a good coffee. So our next stop was a shop that roasts their own beans. Dad & I were having a great time. He’s not a huge coffee fan, but he was a good sport and went along for the ride. Hanging out together and having some good laughs and making memories is what I wanted for our time together. We found a great parking spot and were walking up to the front doors when all of a sudden there was a “bump in the road” for our day . . . or more appropriately a “bump in the sidewalk”

Dad had tripped on an uneven sidewalk and took a pretty nasty fall. It was severe enough that he needed medical attention quickly. I was amazed at how many people jumped into action to help him! He was shook up and bleeding pretty heavily. The owner of the shop took charge and made a little triage station on a patio table in front of her business. A young man walking by stayed with him while I went inside to get more help. Two kind young women who were customers of the shop stayed to help and even transported him to the hospital!

I felt so blessed to see all of these strangers come and help and so many offers from others to see if we needed anything else. The doctor who stitched him up went over and beyond to help us in our situation.

While preparing for this trip I was thinking I was going to be the one to show Jesus’ love to others, but instead He showed His love to me through strangers.

I was encouraged to see so many good and kind people! I have a tendency to not watch the news because of the negativity and hatred in the world. I think people need to know that there are good things happening too!

My dad ended up with a broken nose, broken glasses, stitches on his face and nose, bumps and bruises, ache’s and pains! He made it home the same day. It’s going to take a while to get healed up but he’s ok. We’re so thankful for that!

I went back the next day to thank as many of these kind folks that I could find. They appreciated my thanks but were more concerned with how my Dad was.

Reflecting on these last 24 hours, I am reminded of how blessed we are. There are good things going on around us. We may need to look hard sometimes but, they are there. Good and kind people make me happy!

While we are living our lives, look around you and see how you might be able to lend a hand and help someone.

Be good and kind!

“So we are Christ’s ambassadors . . . .’’ 2 Corinthians 5:20