By April Terry (personal blog http://faithwarming.blogspot.com)

I’d noticed an older woman staring at us when we first sat down and it appeared she was homeless, but I tried not to stare.  So, I was busy playing with my cell phone while munching down on Wendy’s chili when my husband whispered, “Did you see that?”  I looked up quickly.

“No, what?”

“That woman just waited until those people left, and they left their cups on the table.  So, she went over and took one of their cups and went up front and got a refill.”

“Ooh.  How sad,”  I was slightly sickened at the idea of drinking from someone else’s cup, but sad for her.  She was dirty.  Really dirty.

My husband and son went up to order a frosty, but I didn’t want one.  Then, when my son returned with the frosties, I saw the inequity.  I asked my son to let me out, and as he asked if I had changed my mind about a Frosty, I just told him to wait and I would explain later.  Then, I went up front, and I ordered a five dollar gift card.  I went to the back of the restaurant and placed it quietly on the table in front of her.  “This is for you,”  I said, and I left it there with the receipt. 

“Thank you,” she said.

I returned to my seat, and my husband said, “That was a good thing you did.”  I just smiled. It was the right thing to do.

We finished our Frosties and got up to leave and she waved at us as we exited.  I noticed that there was a shopping cart parked on the sidewalk nearby that was filled with all her worldly goods.  As we were discussing her on the way home, my husband said, “So, what did you say to her?  Did you tell her ‘Jesus loves you’ or something?”  He had a smirky smile on his face, and I knew he was just teasing me. 

“No.  I just said, ‘This is for you.’”  He seemed more satisfied with that.  All of the sudden, it was something that I did out of the heart and not just as an ad campaign for Jesus.  I suppose that I’ve done enough stumping for Jesus in my time.  This time, it seemed to be more legitimate to him because I didn’t try to force Jesus into it.  It didn’t matter.  I didn’t have to because we all knew that Jesus was involved, anyway.  My husband told me three more times that evening how proud he was of me.

by Trina Pockett

Trina records a beautiful example of the spiritual practice of noticing…a lesson learned from her very young daughter. The original post is HERE.

About eight years ago, my husband and I completed a church internship in Juneau, Alaska. I could tell you a thousand wonderful things that we learned that summer, but there is one profound story that will stick to my soul until I die. The lesson I learned didn’t come from reading a book on theology or words from a seasoned pastor. The lesson I learned was taught to me by my three year-old daughter.

Let me paint the picture for you.

My husband and I decided to take the ferry from Juneau to Haines, AK (If you’ve never been to Southeast Alaska, you should put it on your bucket list. A-mazing!). We got on the ferry with our two kids. The ferry was packed with people so we had to split up to find seats; he took our son, and I took our daughter.

Kate and I walked to the front of the ferry and saw two open seats next to a very disheveled man. I took the seat next to the man, and Kate sat down to my right.

Immediately I noticed the man’s smell. I looked over at him and gave him a courteous nod, taking note of his greasy hair and beard. In my eyes it was going to be a long four hours.

There was something about this man caught Kate’s attention. She kept leaning over me to look at the man and it started to become a little uncomfortable. I tried to distract her, but she kept leaning over to stare at him. Immediately thoughts started running through my head about what she might say.

Was she going to say something about his dirty clothes? His greasy beard? His smell?

I looked over at the man and smiled awkwardly. Finally Kate leaned over, looked the man in the eyes, and in her little voice said,

“Hi, Jesus.”

The man was so touched by her words.  He smiled and told me that was the nicest thing that anyone had ever said to him.

Instantly I knew that my little Kate had seen things in this man that I had failed to see. She saw more than smelly clothes and greasy long hair. She saw a person that was worthy of love and respect. Kate got it right.

After saying hello, Kate spent the rest of the trip coloring and playing with her toys. But little did she know on that day, she taught her mom a very important lesson. Her two words taught me more about God’s love than all the books I read in seminary. Kate showed how to see with new eyes.

I will never forget the man, the words, or the lesson that I learned on that ferry to Haines.

The following article appeared in the April 2011 edition of The River Glen Vine Line, the monthly newsletter of the River Glen Presbyterian Church in Naperville, IL. To change the paradigm for evangelism will take a lot of time and commitment to celebrate the ordinary attempts we make as a community. This is a great example of one church who is intentionally moving toward Doable Evangelism, and a simple way to express value for the little, doable practices they learned at the DE Seminar. Way to go…and way to celebrate the small stuff!