What I love about coffee is it is part sedative, part motivator, and now part fund raiser all at the same time.
The reason I started this blog last May was to raise awareness about the adoption my family and I were pursuing at the time. Adoption is not for the faint at heart because it takes a continuous effort of filling out paperwork, meeting the country’s criteria, and paying fees when they become due. Overall, a very overwhelming process in which you can easily lose focus and heart. Yet, when the end result is finally realized, it becomes well worth the fight.
So, if the spirit leads, there is an interesting way for you to join us in our adoption journey. It’s real simple and you needn’t even leave your house. Just sit back in your computer chair, click on the JUST LOVE icon and purchase a bag of coffee. When you do my family gets $5 sent directly to our adoption agency, so everybody wins. You get a great cup of coffee and we get closer to bringing a child to their forever home.
I know a small thing like this may appear to have little effect on the big picture, but I disagree and so does Jesus. He said in Matthew 10:42, “And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.”
That reminds me of the time this past winter when God used this verse on me. I was at a local Wal-Mart and it must have been about twenty degrees outside when I walked past the Salvation Army guy going in and then fifteen minutes later, walked past his partner on the way out. Earlier that day, I asked God to use me and the answer now seemed obvious. If I could not give out cold water, how about hot coffee for two freezing guys who were doing something noble. Somehow, their simple thank you and God bless you did more to warm my reluctant heart than the coffee actually did in warming them. It felt right to act on something instead of just driving away and thinking, “oh well, they’ll be warm soon enough,” when I possessed the ability to change their situation instantly.
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” ~Aesop
Swavel
Showing posts with label child. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child. Show all posts
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Slow Burn
One of my favorite after Christmas activities is to burn the trash. It is a quiet moment I can enjoy as the wrapping paper slowly burns. The burning paper, as it emits differnet colors like a kalediscope, reminds me of how fleeting and temporal things are. Yet at the same time encourages me how I need to stay bright. This process also reminds me of one of my favorite movies, A Christmas Carol.
I made some observations from the 1951 movie, A Christmas Carol, which I believe relate. One of the scenes is when Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present. The scene begins as Scrooge enters a room and the ghost, who appears to be a king on his throne, is seated next to a fireplace surrounded by a feast.
Scrooge responds negatively to the ghost after he has been shown the positive aspects of Christmas, “I am too old, I am beyond hope, go and redeem some younger, more promising creature and leave me to keep Christmas in my own way.”
The Christmas spirit replies, “Mortal, we spirits of Christmas do not live but only one day of the year, we live the whole three hundred and sixty five. So is it true of the child born in Bethlehem, he does not live in men’s hearts only one day a year, but in all the days of the year. But you have chosen not to seek him in your heart. Therefore you shall come with me and seek him in the hearts of men of goodwill.”
Of course at the end of the movie, Scrooge decides to change his life for the better and set fire, so to speak, his old way of doing things. A line that exemplifies this is when Scrooge apologizes to his nephew, Fred, admitting the error of his ways, “Can you forgive a pig headed old fool for having no eyes to see with, no ears to hear with, for all these years?”
But my favorite part is at the very end, when the narrator states….
“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; ………….and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!”
Just imagine, if we all lived life with such enthusiasm, it would be like a slow burn no one could refute.
Swavel
I made some observations from the 1951 movie, A Christmas Carol, which I believe relate. One of the scenes is when Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present. The scene begins as Scrooge enters a room and the ghost, who appears to be a king on his throne, is seated next to a fireplace surrounded by a feast.
Scrooge responds negatively to the ghost after he has been shown the positive aspects of Christmas, “I am too old, I am beyond hope, go and redeem some younger, more promising creature and leave me to keep Christmas in my own way.”
The Christmas spirit replies, “Mortal, we spirits of Christmas do not live but only one day of the year, we live the whole three hundred and sixty five. So is it true of the child born in Bethlehem, he does not live in men’s hearts only one day a year, but in all the days of the year. But you have chosen not to seek him in your heart. Therefore you shall come with me and seek him in the hearts of men of goodwill.”
Of course at the end of the movie, Scrooge decides to change his life for the better and set fire, so to speak, his old way of doing things. A line that exemplifies this is when Scrooge apologizes to his nephew, Fred, admitting the error of his ways, “Can you forgive a pig headed old fool for having no eyes to see with, no ears to hear with, for all these years?”
But my favorite part is at the very end, when the narrator states….
“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; ………….and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!”
Just imagine, if we all lived life with such enthusiasm, it would be like a slow burn no one could refute.
Swavel
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Let’s play catch
Have you ever seen the baseball movie, “Field of Dreams?” The whole movie revolves around the son’s attempt to get one more chance to spend time with his father. Who can forget the image of the son and his dad playing catch at the very end of the movie as the credits begin to roll? That got me to thinking.
One of my fondest memories growing up was when my dad took the time to play catch with me. When the mood would strike I would wander into the basement, where dad was often working on his car, with my baseball glove and ball and ask if he had time to play catch. He would often hesitate, then give in and say, 'okay, if you get my glove we can throw for a few minutes.' We didn’t say much, but it always made me feel better after we were done. Always.
Since I have become a dad I have done the same with my son, first when he was playing baseball and now softball. For some reason, it seems to give us both a strange sense of satisfaction as we see how far and hard we can throw to each other. Kind of like a challenge, a man’s way of passing a test, but at the same time no one is keeping record. Now, I understand a lot better why my dad took the time. There is nothing like just sharing a moment, just him and I.
Some of the best times you will ever have with your child is when you are just 'being' together. It doesn't need to be a game of catch, perhaps just something you both enjoy. "A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different, because I was important in the life of a 'child'." (Forest Witcraft)
Swavel
Your turn: What is your most favorite childhood memory?
One of my fondest memories growing up was when my dad took the time to play catch with me. When the mood would strike I would wander into the basement, where dad was often working on his car, with my baseball glove and ball and ask if he had time to play catch. He would often hesitate, then give in and say, 'okay, if you get my glove we can throw for a few minutes.' We didn’t say much, but it always made me feel better after we were done. Always.
Since I have become a dad I have done the same with my son, first when he was playing baseball and now softball. For some reason, it seems to give us both a strange sense of satisfaction as we see how far and hard we can throw to each other. Kind of like a challenge, a man’s way of passing a test, but at the same time no one is keeping record. Now, I understand a lot better why my dad took the time. There is nothing like just sharing a moment, just him and I.
Some of the best times you will ever have with your child is when you are just 'being' together. It doesn't need to be a game of catch, perhaps just something you both enjoy. "A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different, because I was important in the life of a 'child'." (Forest Witcraft)
Swavel
Your turn: What is your most favorite childhood memory?
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