Some weeks can be tougher that others. Last week was no exception. If you live in the UK you may remember seeing in the national news the story about a young boy aged just 6 years old who tragically drowned in our town, Sudbury in South Suffolk, while at Beaver Scouts on Tuesday night.
It is an awful thing and I cannot imagine the pain his parents are going through. It must be sheer hell! As a father of three young girls, the youngest being 5, I feel particularly emotional about the loss.
Of course, something like this doesn't just affect the family, but all those involved. Not least the Beaver leaders who had him in their care, the police who were first on the scene and the medics. This little boy has affected many lives. I can't help but feel myself welling up as I think about this tragedy.
It is in this context, unknowingly, Stour Valley Vineyard Church had planned an outward-focussed activity on Wednesday morning. We call this one of our ARK initiatives (Acts of Random Kindness). We had arranged to give out hundreds of doughnuts to local public sector workers in our community to say thanks for all the work that they do in serving us. We wanted to recognise their contribution and make them feel that they weren't just taken for granted. This small doughy thing with jam was a small and silly way to say, 'we think you're brilliant!' It also came with God's blessing.
Amidst the different places we delivered to we went to Sudbury Police Station. Unaware of what had really just happened the day before, our guys handed the bags of doughnuts over the counter, said our thing and walked out.
Yesterday we received a letter from the police chaplain. He warmly thanked us on behalf of the force and told us how the station had been subdued that morning, as two of their officers had tried to resuscitate the boy before the arrival of the medics. Their station had just been told that the boy had died in hospital. Not their best day in the job. The chaplain said it mattered to them that someone in the community actually cared about them and recognised their 'unsung effort'. Humbling stuff!
We like to believe that we brought a little bit of God's compassion into that police station and made a very sad and heavy morning just a little bit lighter.
We had gone out on that Wednesday morning thinking we were just delivering doughnuts when actually we were bringing the presence of God' into a heavy, despairing atmosphere.
The truth is God often does more behind our backs than he ever shows to our faces. For our part, we just need to live the Jesus lifestyle of serving others with generosity, no strings attached, and let Him do the rest.
ASD
