Make it happen

A couple of weeks ago some college students moved in just a few doors down.  That night they had a party to celebrate their new move and the beginning of the Fall semsester at WMU.  To my surprise, they kept the noise down.  Our parking lot was flooded with cars for most the night and into the early morning hours, but by 7am most were gone.  The remenence of plastic cups on the ground and stale beer in the air was the only evidence of that night.

As I walked out to my car that morning I was a little taken back by all the trash (plastic cups and some other garbage) that was scattered around the parking lot and in the grass.  Had these students really just moved in and then trashed the place? 
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Coming home at the end of the day, I quickly noticed how clean everything was.  All the trash was picked up, the garbage on the lawn was gone and everything looked normal.  It wasn't that these new tenants woke up and cleaned up the mess left by their celebration.  Instead, it was John.
John is an employee of our apartment complex.  I have seen him before walking around with a 5 gallon bucket and tool used to help grab trash.  Every morning he goes through the entire apartment complex (and it is huge) picking up random trash. 

After I got home I made it a priority to go to the main office and let them know that John had done a great job in keeping the area clean.  I asked if they would relay the message for me and let him know that someone has noticed the good job he is doing. 
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This morning Danielle (my 8 month old) woke up early crying.  She has not been feeling good for a couple of days now.  At 6am she decided that she wanted to be inconsolable for the next 75 minutes.  I took her down stairs and rocked her, fed her, and Asia sucked the snot out of her nose with the one thingy.  Eventually she went to sleep. 

So... I decided to skip the morning workout and just come into the office early today to get things done and while walking outside I noticed John out picking up trash.  Yesterday I preached and one of the things I encouraged the congregation to do was to take chances that were presented to them and talk to people.  Specifically attempt to start relationships, or advance previous ones, in attempts to share love and the gospel with them.  Now i dont want to see a bunch of people shoving religion down the throats of others, but i do believe we as Christ followers need to be conscious of the fact that we are called to be light and salt in this world.  We can only be that if we act.  It would be wrong of us to merely sit by and allow the world around us to continue to go to hell.  We need to be actively and shrewdly seeking the lost.

I walked up to John and introduced myself and let him know that i noticed he had been doing a really good job.  I mentioned to him that I complemented him at the front office and before I had a chance to ask if they relayed it to him, he said, "So your the one."  With a big smile on his face, he took off his work gloves and shook my hand and shared how much he appreciated what I did.  I didn't have to complement him at the office that day a week ago.  I didn't have to say a word to him this morning either.  But I figured if I preached it, I might as well live it.

Hope you get a chance too.............................