Pointless Ramblings

I would like to extend my very deepest apologies, as this post does not contain the usual high levels of sarcasm or photos of The O-Man. Stay tuned -- I'm sure one will come soon.


Last night, Jonathan and I and a bunch of others from our church did something interesting. We went to the Wednesday night "Connect" service, and found out we were breaking up into groups and serving our community to end off the series we had been doing. Our group was given a handful of $10 Target gift cards and were told to simply hand them out to perfect strangers, explain that most people are in tough financial circumstances right now so we want to help out, and ask if there's anything that we can pray for that person about.

What?! If that's not overwhelming, I don't know what is. Even if you're giving, as opposed to trying to sell someone something, it's really, REALLY hard to approach complete strangers. The most outgoing person in my group refused to do it right off the bat because it made her "too uncomfortable." Wah, wah. The two shyest in the group (I'll give you two guesses on that one) gave out three cards to some families that really needed them.

The first lady I approached seemed a little freaked out about it, like there was some "catch" to the deal. I didn't say what church I was from or my name. She seemed appreciative, but still a tad suspicious.

Jonathan approached the second lady, who we found in the shoe department. She was VERY pregnant! I got the impression from her stained white maternity shirt that perhaps money was tight, but as we started up a conversation and she introduced us to her husband and one of her other three kids, we realized that this card definitely met her needs that night. She was shopping for a pair of shoes for her son that, from what I gathered, she couldn't really afford. The card would cover those shoes. She was so touched she started crying and thanked us over and over.

I found the last family as they walked in the store. There were two adults and three or four kids, and they ALL looked depressed. The card brightened their night, and I found out that the dad had just had back surgery that morning and was in a lot of pain, and he will also be missing a lot of work. So they, just like so may others, are going through big financial issues right now.

Though it was stepping far out of my comfort zone, it was a great, humbling experience.