brought to tears.

Tags

cancer, faith, God, humbling yourself, K-love radio, love, making a difference, postaday2011, postaweek2011, servanthood, serving, serving others, twitter

I was literally just brought to tears. Knock twitter all you want, but it has connected me with some really wonderful people… all across the world. One in particular, a complete stranger but also from Richmond, reached out and touched my heart. She was sending prayers to my family after hearing of Twizzler’s battle with cancer and now the one my mother may be facing with Skittles. (Just to update you… My mom found a lump on her neck this morning and immediately scheduled testing for tomorrow. It could be nothing, but we’ve heard that before…) Anyways, this woman reached out to me and said she would be praying for me and my family. On top of that, she later messaged me and offered to be a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on. She explained that she has had cancer twice before and that she would be more than willing to talk to us if we wanted.

Like, seriously? There’s still good people out there in this crazy, chaotic world? God continually shows me that there is still hope to be had in life and for our society by placing special people like her in my life. She may never know how much of an impact she made on my life, but I can only hope that I can one day return that favor… to her or to another stranger.

I challenge you to go and be a special someone to a stranger today. K-Love radio has “Make a Difference Mondays.” Well, I declare today to be a “Think of Others Thursday.” Humble yourself and do at least one thing to help someone out today. It doesn’t have to be anything big, but strive to make some kind of difference in someone else’s life today. Heck, try it again tomorrow… and the day after that and the day after that. As you start to think of something to do for another person, you’ll in turn be humbling yourself. God calls us to serve others.. in ALL that we do. And you don’t have to fly to Costa Rica to make a difference… Look around your workplace, your local gym or your child’s daycare.. or even at the grocery store.. there is always someone that needs a little pick-me-up and God’s calling you to help make the difference.

gratitude for a job you hate?

Tags

economy, employment, gratitude, hard work, job, K-love radio, making a difference, optimism, postaday2011, recession, Seth Godin, thankfulness, unemployment, work, work ethic

The recession killed off 7.9 million jobs. It would take the creation of 10.6 million jobs immediately for the same percentage of the population to be working as was the case three to four years ago. And we all know that it takes time to create jobs. If it takes three years, more than 3.5 million additional jobs will be needed because of continued population growth. The Federal Reserve predicts that unemployment will stay around 7% or above through 2012 and in the 5% to 5.3% range in the long-run. In March 2011, the unemployment rate for adult women was 7.7%. Just released, the unemployment rate as of May rose slightly to 8.0%. The same statistics grew for adult men, but slightly decreased for teenagers. Our economy has a long road ahead… to say the very least. (All facts and figures came from CNN.com and The Bureau of Labor Satistics from the US Department of Labor)

After reading all those statistics, you can’t help but feel a little bit more blessed. This week, the company I work for performed a set of layoffs and made company-wide pay cuts. A friend of mine who lives near Virginia Beach found out her husband was also laid off this week. After strolling through the mall with Christopher last night, I noticed three new store closings. Just when we think we’re on the upswing, something like this happens. Like I said, we have a long road ahead of us.