Randon Acts of Kindness

Today started out like any other....a typical Thursday. As I was pulling into the parking lot at work this morning, I noticed that it was time for an oil change in my car. A couple others must have realized the same thing this morning as well because not very long after I got inside there was chatter about caravanning over to Firestone to drop off cars for service. As we were leaving Firestone about 9a.m. this morning, we decided that Starbucks would be a nice perk to an otherwise uneventful morning. So, with left blinker on and we turn into the drive-thru line. This particular morning the line was a few cars long and moving rather slowly....quite unusual for Starbucks in this town. They are usually known for their speed. But this morning, it was slow and we were getting a little irritated...the typical "We should've just gone in" and "the slow poke in front of us is taking way too long for just 1 cup of joe!" verbages were spewing out quite easily. We finally get to the speaker box to place our many orders (you cannot go back to the Kraft office having just been to Starbucks without the phonecalls to make sure no one else wants anything...and this typical Thursday morning, it seemed that everyone wanted something!). A few long minutes later when we pulled up to the window to pay, the excrutiatingly slow vehicle in front of us took even longer to pay....you might can imagine our frustration at this point. Maybe you've been there yourself in the "drive thrus of life". Well, as God typically does, He showed up in rare form about that time. As we pulled up to pay for our orders, the bright cheerful face at the window said, "I have some terrific news for you all. The car in front of you paid for all your orders. It was a random act of kindness." Boy! you wouldn't believe our surprise and humbled selves! Our $25 in orders were paid by a complete stranger...and one we were severely complaining about! Her $4.00 cup of coffee ended up costing almost $30....What sunshine to a rather typical day.

I remember an Emmaus talk given by a lady named Tamie and she urged us to show grace "even in the drive thru's of life." How fitting to remember that today.

I am also happy to report that we kept the kindness going and paid for the car behind us. They had only ordered a grande plain coffee that was $1.53. We all learned a lesson today...never underestimate slow lines, strangers, and random acts of kindness.

Pay it forward.