From WanderingVets
“I noticed a man looking rather down and just… not right… at a bus stop right next to (in front of) where my car was parked at a convenience store near my sister’s, and he slowly began to approach me as I was walking back to my car after being in the store. I didn’t smell alcohol. The guy looked more depressed than anything, but was certainly not waiting for the bus. It was a sheltered stop, and a place to sit out of the rain.
Before he could say something I said, “You have a place to stay tonight?” trying to get him to look at my face “No, ma’am.” “Have something to eat… or any money? I assume you’re not actually waiting for the bus.”
“Well… no, not actually, ma’am” (must’ve been in the military).
He wouldn’t look me in the face, but it was dark, and raining. It’s been pretty cold here. I handed him a juice I’d just bought for myself and a five dollar bill from my wallet, and I thought he didn’t believe me at first.
He just kinda stood there and then said, “Wow, thank you!!!” and he finally looked me in the eyes. I smiled at him and told him good luck and wished him a merry Christmas, such as it was.
“God bless you ma’am, and merry Christmas to you, too” and then looked down at the bill I’d handed him. He was still looking at it as I was driving away.
‘So then I drove to my sister’s crying. Thankfully my son was asleep in his booster seat.”
go here for more
http://wanderingvets.wordpress.com/2007/12/17/92random-acts-of-kindness/
Ok so you know there is a sermon coming on. I can't help it.
When Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem there was no place for them to stay. No one knows what would have happened that night to them or to the baby Mary was delivering that night had it not been for a random act of kindness from the man letting them seek shelter in the stable. Where would the angles have lead the shepherds? Where would the Magi have followed the star too? More to the point is what would God think of the people who would provide no shelter to His child?
We are all children of God. Our souls sent from His side to live on this earth. We live in a nation claiming to be a "Christian Nation" since most claim the faith in Christ and we claim God "shed His grace on thee" "crowning they good with brotherhood" and yet we allow our brothers and sisters to go without shelter, food, clothing and depleting hope on a daily basis.
A while ago someone posted an angry comment about how I could pay more attention to the homeless veterans in this nation than I do to all the homeless. I tried to explain that if we cannot even take care of the homeless veterans, who unselfishly were willing to sacrifice their lives for this nation, the rest of the homeless were more unlikely to be taken care of or even noticed in the kind of nation refusing to take care of the ones responsible for this nation still existing.
As individuals we can do random acts of kindness that will warm the heart of God but as a nation on the whole, we prove we are not as good as what all the songs about this country claim. We ask God to bless this nation and yet we act like the man in this parable;
Luke 12
The Parable of the Rich Fool 13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.
17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+12%3A13-34
I often wonder what people are going to do with all the money they have accumulated over the last decade when they die? What could they possibly plan on doing when their kids will inherit it all after they die? Do they really think their kids need that much money? It's one thing to want a mansion and live the good life if they worked hard for it, but too many have made their billions off the backs of other people. We have a nation of over 300 million people yet less than 30 million veterans and only about 17 million of them are combat veterans. We no longer attribute wealth in the millions but in the billions. You cannot even get honorable mention on Forbes anymore unless you have a billion.
The World's Billionaires
Edited by Luisa Kroll and Allison Fass 03.08.07, 6:00 PM ET
It has been a busy year in the fortune-hunting business. Strong equity markets combined with rising real estate values and commodity prices pushed up fortunes from Mumbai to Madrid. Forbes pinned down 946 billionaires, including 178 newcomers and 17 people who climbed back into the ranks after being absent for a year or more. Two-thirds of last year's billionaires are richer. Only 17% are poorer, including 32 who fell below the billion-dollar mark. The billionaires' combined net worth climbed by $900 billion to $3.5 trillion. That equates to $3.6 billion apiece. More . . .
If this makes sense to people who want to have a fit over the so called "war on Christmas" like Bill O'Reilly, then you haven't a clue who Christ was, what He wanted us to be or what He wanted us to do. You don't have the slightest idea what He was born to teach all of us as well as die for us because of our own sins.
BILLION BUCKS isn't what it used to be. Own a few apartment buildings in Tokyo, and—even in this market—you're almost certainly worth a bill. Take a high-tech company public when it's hot, and you're in the no-longer-so-exclusive billionaire club.
Ten years ago Forbes started counting billionaires outside the U.S. We found 96. Last year, 298—plus 149 American billionaires. With stock markets around the world up an average 23% in the last year, the billionaire population, like the deer population, is sure to have increased.
http://www.uni-muenster.de/PeaCon/eliten/Forbes-Global.htm
This Christmas, have a real war on Christmas that would make Jesus smile. Wage war on greed and selfishness. Return one of your gifts and donate the money to a shelter. Take the sweater someone gave you and donate it. Tell your husband you don't need another diamond but you want him to donate the money to a charity in your name for all the love you gave him over the years. Tell your wife you don't need a new set of golf clubs but you want her to donate the money instead to a charity in honor of your life. Create your own random act of kindness and be blessed like the Inn keeper was on the night Christ was born or you can be cursed like the rich land owner who only care about what he could gain.
Kathie Costos
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
