Pay It Forward or "I see nice people"

This past Christmas, one special lady in our youth group shared with us a great story that happened to her family. They were not going to have enough extra money for gifts, but some appeared on their doorstep on a few days before Christmas. Kathleen shared this story at the Christmas Eve services and someone in the church generously donated some money and some turkeys to the family. The church also donated a gift card for groceries.

So, Kathleen recommended that instead of looking for who did this "random act of kindness", to "Pay It Forward". A concept from the movie of that title. It stars the kid who later saw "dead people". Hey, wait a minute...he died in that movie too.

So, we were planning on showing the movie in its entirety as a "movie night" but when I previewed it, it was PG13, and not totally appropriate for the "younger moviegoers", so we showed parts that explained the concept of generosity to someone that can't do it themselves and something that is quite a sacrifice.

We used Jesus' parable of the good Samaritan as a lesson. (Luke 10:25-37) We discussed some background to the story and characters (for example, the road from Jericho to Jerusalem was quite rugged and dangerous, full of narrow paths and steep mountains. This place was infamous for crime - a bad neighborhood!, some good reasons the priest may have had for not approaching a bloody dead? guy on the side of the road, and what's a Samaritan anyway?)

Speaking of characters, we had several actors within the group volunteer to do an impromptu skit of the the Good Samaritan. Excellent work, guys!

And thanks very much to Cheryl, one of our youth's mama who joined us for the evening and had some encouraging words to say. any parents are welcome to join us anytime!!

Stay tuned for many more activities this year. It's going to be fun!

and btw, if anyone's reading this...post a comment. I have no idea if anyone is reading this...or am I wasting my time??? I know I'm not...

Jesus did the ultimate "Pay It Forward". He looked out and saw each one of us and knew that we couldn't save ourselves. He sacrificed himself on a cruel painful cross to connect you and me with God himself. (think about that!)

Now, go and share his love to others.

Pay it forward.

Luke 10:36-37

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."