January

9:48 AM marked the beginning of taking $30 a month to bless completely random people for no other reason than to bring more smiles to faces, brighten up days, and show, in some round-about way, the love of Jesus for people. (I think Jesus would have spent a lot of time 'kicken it' in coffee shops. His beard would fit in well here.)

In an almost comical fashion, the woman behind the counter of this St. Paul Dunn Bros was struggling to believe what i was suggesting. Our conversation got to the point of..

"It's quite simple," i said, "just charge me for the next $25 worth of people and i'll pay for it at the end." (She's getting the last $5 as a tip)
"Wait, wait wait, so who's in your party? How will i know that they're with you?" she asked.
"No, no. No party. No one knows. They won't know."
"So you're just being nice?"
"Something like that."

She went and talked with her manager (much louder than i would have liked..) and got the OK to go through with it. So now i sit here amidst roughly 20 Sunday morning coffee goers having absolutely no clue who's gotten a free coffee and who hasn't. Thankfully, Ms. Moore did this same "exercise" yesterday, and forewarned me of her experience. As she sat down to pay for people's drinks, she couldn't see the reactions of anyone receiving the blessing. At first, this was a bit upsetting, but after further thought, she realized that seeing the people, and thus receiving some type of fulfillment, wasn't the point.

The point is to bless people. Not to feel good about ourselves.

Undoubtedly i would have faced the same emotions, for i can not see the registar, had Kelley not shared her experience with me.

Somewhere in Scripture (turns out in the 6th chapter of Matthew's Gospel) it says not to let the right hand know what the left hand is doing, but to keep secret your good deeds, for those who parade themselves around, boasting of what they've done receive their reward. But those who keep it secret will receive their reward in heaven. (Roughly paraphrased) Typing this seems a bit paradoxical, with the entire world being able to read this blog, but i think (more, "hope") i'll be alright so long as i don't dance around talking about "prahject 30" and recommending people to read my updates.

The woman from behind the counter came up to me at my table, with a semi-panicked look on her face, "can i see your ID? Your card says to see your ID.."

Ha, this woman thinks i'm using someone else's card to bless people-that's awesome. I'd be the coolest "bad-guy" ever.

"OK, so it came to $60.28."
"..what..i said the first $25 worth of people?"
"OOHHH, i see, no problem, i thought your meant the first 25 people."

I probably should have paid for the whole bill, and i think i would have, but she took off right away after understanding what i had said. Next time i'll write it down.

Well, people are standing, waiting for a table to open up, so i think I'll wrap up and get on with it. Thanks Tim, for enabling me to be the one who gets to bless people through you. I look forward to this project and am excited to see how the Lord dictates to whom and to where your blessings flow.