Meet Don

I'd like to tell you about a boy I met at church. I'll call him Don.

At 16, Don seems to be closer to God than anyone I know, child or adult. He's mentally challenged, but that works to his advantage.

In a talk his mom gave last month, she told of overhearing Don tell God, in prayer, that he was ready to go Home whenever God was ready to send for him. And he was happily serious about it.

Today while I was sitting in the foyer at Church, Don happened to be in the hall. Two strangers walked by and Don rushed to introduce himself.

"I'm Don! Who are you?"

A little taken aback, they told him their names. Chris and Mike.

He hugged them both at the same time while fairly yelling, "Hi, Chris! Hi, Mike!" He was genuinely excited to have two new friends (they just didn't know they were best friends yet).

I watched their faces as Don ran off to greet others. Their surprised looks gave way to honest-to-goodness smiles. He had touched their hearts with simple love that was complete and unambiguous.

I wish I could be more like Don.

Announcing “Serve Where You Are” Week – September 14 – 20, 2008

What it is:

An opportunity to actively search out ways to serve others – and then serve without fanfare

How it Works:

Set aside and dedicate as much time that you can spare during the entire week
Work as a couple, a team or alone. There’s no one to report to
Look around you to find opportunities to serve (see below for ideas)
Seek to serve without recognition. Serve quietly and with dignity
Share the Serve Where You Are details with others

Ideas for Service:

Help out at the food bank
Clean a cemetery
Carry groceries for someone
Collect books for a battered women’s shelter
Be someone’s shoulder to cry on
Compliment a stranger
Smile at someone
Offer to mow someone’s lawn
Offer to make a drugstore run for an elderly person
Attend an AA meeting with someone
Take a sack lunch to a homeless person
Hand out signed “coupons” that say, “Sometimes it’s just nice to know someone cares about you. I care”, (see attached document as a basic example)

Spread the word!

Post this at your work or hand it out as a flyer
Email this to your friends in your address book (please don’t spam)
Blog about it
Visit the Service Blog http://serviceafol.blogspot.com/ and be sure to comment

Tell me how it goes:

I’m interested to hear your experiences. If you’re interested, please email me at jameswhofheins@yahoo.com and tell me some of the things you did to serve. Be as detailed as you like; tell me about the reactions you got from others, how you felt, and if your experience would lead you to participate again.

With your permission, I’d also like to post your comments on my blog, using only your first name and city and state.

Thank you so much for being willing to participate. Truly, service is the action form of love!