Giving — Page 62

McBrought It

September 12, 2014 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

I’m impatient.

That’s a huge McUnderstatement.

Would you like a McClassic Example?

So very crowded was the line inside of McDonald’s that I went back outside, got in my car and got in the drive-thru line.

It was also a dramatic illustration of just how competitive I am, even with myself. My personal-no-one-even-noticed-Game was to get in my car, go through the drive-thru, get my order, park my car and get back into McDonald’s and eat my sausage egg McMuffin without the last person in line inside the store getting their order.

Little did I know that there was another game about to take place. . .

One with a couple of Winners.

I first heard her voice when I came up to the speaker to place my order.

Before she ever asked me for my order, she asked me this:

“Good morning. Are you having a good day?”

I told her I was having an awesome day and asked her how she was doing?

She told me, “Most Excellent.”

“Now what can I get for you to make the day better,” she asked?

I placed my order and was a little intrigued to find who this Order-Taking Wizard was.

She was young, and had a smile on her face that filled the window.

She told me what I owed her and as I handed her the money, I told her I owed her much more than that.

“How is it that you are TAKING orders but GIVING so much more than what you could put in a bag?”

She laughed and said, “I’ve never heard it put THAT way before.”

I thanked her for making my morning and she thanked me for coming through her line and told me it was good to see me.

I gave her my standard reply to that comment: “IT’S BETTER TO BE SEEN THAN VIEWED”

She laughed and that when I said, “Hey, thanks for bringing it. . .you McBROGHT IT!”

She yelled as I drifted away, “Thanks, you McBrought it, too!”

I hurried and parked my car and went back into McDonald’s to read the papered news and eat my Sausage Egg McMuffin.

Oh yeah, I was smiling big because I had beaten the people who were still in line waiting for their orders.

I WON!

…and then, and then I realized, I ready had W O N. . . .

When was the last time Some One McBrought if for you?

When was the last time you McBrought if for Some One Else?

Let the Game begin. . .

McBring It!

W I N

Yesterday’s News, Tomorrow

September 10, 2014 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

It’s almost been a month. . .

If you think that news travels fast, time makes you forget THAT news flies even faster, doesn’t it?

It’s been just about a month since Robin Williams died.

There’s been many stories written, many movies highlighted and seen, many once-upon-a time’s and remember-when’s reflected upon.

Care for one more?

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to hear the name of ROBIN WILLIAMS or see another one of his movies without thinking about this. . . .

The story goes that whenever Robin was to be hired or considered for a role he would submit a “RIDER.”

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Christmas in July

July 25, 2014 By ChuckBehrens 2 Comments

Christmas in July. . .

A Retail Owner’s dream and hope for ‘all the fears of all the years’ or at least this year’s bottom line.

When was the first time you remember hearing of Christmas in July?

It may not be the first time, but it’s certainly my most memorable time–July 1979.

I was a getting ready to start my final year at Lexington Theological Seminary and I was NO Billy Graham in the pulpit. I was taking a mandatory Practice Preaching Class with 9 other colleagues. We listened to each other’s sermons and then, quite brutally, butchered one another in what was suppose to be constructive critiquing.

V I C I O U S !

We gave three sermons each during the Term. It was my third and last one. I, uhhh, I really hadn’t done too well with my first two outings.

This third one wasn’t showing much promise. I had been up all night, being on call at the University of Kentucky Medical Center, to fulfill my Clinical Pastoral Education credits.

I WAS NOT going from a full-manuscript–word-for-word–written down before me, which was highly usual for me at that time.

I was picked to go first for this 8:00 a.m. class and Starbucks had yet to be invented.

I know that my mouth moved but it was my heart that spoke.

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A Moment, A Lifetime….

July 21, 2014 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

Amazing how a Lifetime can actually be lived in a moment…and often is.

Some people who watched this short video, that seems to be flying all over YouTube and the Internet, have said it was staged.

Some have actually criticized the man on the steps, who shared his pizza, couldn’t have been that poor because he had money for not so inexpensive cigarettes.

Some assume that this is a nice little story, maybe even a beautiful parable of how to Receive by Giving.

Some have stated it’s a waste of a little over a minute they’ll never be able to reclaim in their lives.

Some believe that the biggest problem in our society today is that we enable a whole generation of homeless to become nothing any greater in their day to day lives than just being homeless.

Some believe that God helps those who are only out there helping themselves and others.

Some think that altruism is all-too-much.

Some think we give to get.

Some consider that what they have worked for and have is Their’s NOT to share freely.

Some trust that by giving pieces of pizza is no way to show others how to make their own.

Some anticipate being punished and discriminated against by not giving to every need before them.

SOME…

THEM…

THEY…

are people.

When we clump the Some’s, the Them’s, the They’s together they become more faceless, less significant, and easier to neglect or simply not notice.

…Maybe it’s no longer about DESERVING or GIVING or Determining how many times PAST ONE is it alright NOT to be a Good Samaritan?

When we give every once in a while, we miss the truest gift of giving EVERY TIME.

When we fail to give…

WE FAIL…

badly!

Hmmmmmmmmm…when we fail to give some change, a few paper bills, sandwiches, blankets, gloves, coats, shirts, socks, shoes, a piece of pizza or____________________________________, we hold on to something that’s not wholly ours, or can be completely kept after our last pulse.

Yeah-but….

Ahhhhh, The “YEAH-BUT.”

Cage that vicious animal.

The “Yeah-But” becomes tame when we simply stop using it…

NOW!

In Line

June 18, 2014 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

Monday mornings are like that–BUSY–Especially In Line at Starbucks.

They came in right after me. Chase was looked like he was 3 or 4 and Estella looked like she was 6. She was quiet but Chase made Expresso nervous.

It looked like mom just wanted to get in and out of there. I ordered my drink and I was paying for it I saw her trying to shuffle through her purse and then her wallet and I added, “And whatever they want.”

Mom was a little stunned.

I said, “No, really. Is it ok if I buy the kids a couple of cake pops and your drink?”

She wasn’t a good Receiver. She tried to jam some money into my side pocket and I said, “Hey, let me be a little selfish. It’s really good doing nice things….”

She thanked me and then Chase piped up, “Hey, what’s your name?”

“Chuck. What’s yours?”

“Chase. You know, I have a truck named, Chuck,” he added.

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UNDER heard

June 13, 2014 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

The Conversation was way underway before I got there that morning.

I had already come in late to what THEY were discussing; I had already UNDERheard, maybe too much to piece everything together, but it had something to do with what was her favorite item on the menu.

They continued to smile, I presume back and forth. I could only see her as she brought his breakfast and more coffee. The back of his head nodded often and that seemed to be pretty much IT. . .

Until….

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Toughest Job

May 11, 2014 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB3xM93rXbY

Is it the worst job ever?

To be sure, it’s ONE job, few would ever apply, accept, or keep…and yet, there are well over a billion that holds the actual gut-wretching-never-ending position.

And to that there are only Two Words, never said enough days before, Day of, or days after. . .

T H A N K Y O U.

Go hug a mom…and if you can’t. . .

HUG A CHILD OF ONE–hard and just a little longer than usual!

…happy mother’s day–Every Day!

Taking Back TRUST a DVD at a Time

April 30, 2014 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

It was suppose to be a simple trip.

A favor that turned into a furor!

Why do things go all ka-fluey when there’s just no reason for them NOT to go smoothly?

Don’t tell me: “JUST BECAUSE!”

Don’t tell me: “It’s a fate thing?”

Don’t tell me: “Mr. Murphy has moved next door and wants to be intimately close to you.”

Don’t tell me that sometimes when I look at something square on without blinking that I still can’t see if for the very life of me.

I went to the Redbox kiosk as the rain beat down on me like a war drum gone amok. I tried pressing the RIGHT buttons but, oh, no, Mr Murphy on a Christmas morn with an Easter sunrise, the Redbox machine was more frozen than an iceberg in January.

As I was ‘praying’ an unheard sanctuary prayer, a couple came running from their car to return their DVD and when I told them of the problem, they too joined me in this unholy litany to the Redbox gods.

And then, then it happened. I told them that I was going to go to another Redbox a few miles a way and if they wanted, I would be glad to return their two DVD’s.

They didn’t pause. They said, “Would you? That would be so nice of you.”

They shoved the DVD’s in my hand quicker than they could have ever done to that Redbox machine. And they ran back to the car faster than the next raindrop and were gone.

They trusted me. They trusted me with about $100.00 worth of their DVD movies. They trusted ME!

On the way to the next Redbox kiosk (about three miles) away, I was no longer mad at a favor turned bad. I was a little more humbled, a little more encouraged and validated.

What, what made them trust me? Was it the rain? Was it the baby crying in the back seat and wanting to get home NO MATTER WHAT THE COST? Was it my face? A kind offer that surprised/shocked them? Was it the frustration of a frozen Redbox machine? What?

What do we show people? How are we ultimately seen? Kind? Sincere? Compassionate? Trustworthy?

I can’t pass THAT or any other Redbox kiosk now and not ask myself those kind of questions.

Come on, there’s day’s when I do everything I can NOT to look my way for any reason.

Maybe this is a kind, a compassionate reason for all of us to be reminded, “It’s no longer enough just ‘not to be so bad,” but to be kind, compassionate, giving TO BE KIND, COMPASSIONATE and GIVING.

Maybe the “T” in Trust actually begins with an “I?”

Maybe we can actually ‘take back’ TRUST one DVD at a time. . . ?

Maybe THAT’S the special feature we all need to do more than just renting out or simply viewing…?

Maybe. . . .

Love Past A Season

April 21, 2014 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

WE say it’s easier if you love someone.

We say it’s easier if it’s a family member.

We say it’s the right thing to do.

We say it’s longer lasting than a Moment, A Day, or a Season.

We say. . . .

The truest Love wrapped in the warmest Compassion overcomes most likely everything in and out of this world.

That Love will grow weary.

That Love will become weaker.

That Love will Know all things, Believe all things, Endure all things.

That Love will never fail.

That Love will never end.

That Love is what we possess and have the power to parlay to and for the good of others.

Let someone else do it?

We are SOMEONE ELSE!

See. Be Free that wonderful gift that exists and you and begs to be shared…but never just once. It becomes more potent each time shared.

Make the Best time…the Next time!

Don’t waste too many breaths in between the two!

Love past a Season is the only Season that lasts and is worth Living…it’s always the Perfect climate! It’s the only time of the year that continues, any you’re it’s caretaker!

The World needs a little ‘SEASONING.’ None better than yours–EVER!

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