Will The Real Hero Please Stand Up: Kindness Changes Lives

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. Ephesians 5:1-2 (The Message)

There’s an entire world out there that longs for human connection; people who desperately need to be loved, and feel loved. Men whose lives are literally falling apart for lack of community, lack of friendship, lack of connection. These people are in your office. They’re at your next stop. They sit next to you at church. I know…  I was one.

I have been the recipient of a love that goes beyond affection to self-sacrificing service and it has changed my life. I have been blessed with a friend who has gone above and beyond to serve me. He has shown me the hands and feet and heart of Christ. He is one of my heroes!

His name is Patrick Scully. Patrick and I met in a church men’s group when I was broke, busted and disgusted. My business had collapsed, my family left, my life was a mess. Most of my life I have been a very optimistic self-starter, but at this point that had been beaten out of me. Rocky sitting in his corner in the 11^th round would be a pretty good picture of how I felt. There were many good people encouraging me at this point, but Patrick achieved hero status because he did more than encourage me with words.

He saw potential in me when even I couldn’t see it. He not only called that out of me, but he put his money where his mouth is. He gave me a job, he put a new set of clothes on my back, he gave me a car, he rallied a group of men to raise money to pay off a business tax debt that kept me out of jail, He launched me into a new business. He believed in me! His love was not cautious but extravagant.

I’ve watched Patrick love a number of people this way including his family, and have learned to do it myself. I see now why we argue who has been blessed more :0)

We all have friends we pray for and that is vital, but who have you taken enough interest in to get into their world and ask them how you can help? Who are you invested in? Whose success do you have a stake in? Your kindness will change lives. Why not start today? God created you to be someone’s friend… Maybe even a hero!