ARK = Acts Of Random Kindness

By Chad McComas

I recently had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Mexico with some of the youth of our church to build a home for a native family there. We teamed up with many others from the US and had a caravan of 15-passenger vans moving down the road from the San Diego airport into Baja California.

Each team named their van. We named ours the ARK. ARK stands for Acts of Random Kindness. That was our intention for the week and looking back that is exactly what God allowed us to do. We were able to do many small “acts” during our week to touch many families. The acts included building a home, putting a window in another home to help cool it off, playing with children, helping a young mother find medical care for her two year old son, serve a meal to the men and women in a recovery center, give away toys, buy a meal for some children, tip an overworked waitress, pray with the families, give away our clothes, and more.
Acts of kindness…in this issue you will read what others think about the importance of kindness and the various ways (acts) of showing it. We have all experienced a kind act towards us at one time or another. I hope we have also been on the giving end many times in our lives.

Jesus was a perfect example of giving and doing “kind” acts.

Every miracle was a kind act. Ask the blind man or the leper.

Every time He spent time with someone it was a kind act. Just ask Nicodemus or Zacchaeus.

Every time He forgave someone it was an act of kindness. Remember the man on the mat for 30+ years? Or the paralytic brought by his four friends?

It was Jesus who gave us the “Golden Rule.” He told us to treat others as we want to be treated. I assume we all want others to be kind to us. So…

Paul includes kindness in the list of the nine character traits of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22,23. And if we didn’t understand what kindness and love is we only have to read his list of the “acts” of the sinful nature a few verses earlier (Galatians 5:19-21)

Our acts are so important. There is even a book in the New Testament entitled “ACTS.”

So the challenge is before all of us to be intentional about our daily “acts” of kindness. They are what really show whether we are experiencing the Holy Spirit living inside. Jesus told us that he does…and Jesus told us that we can identify believers by their “fruit.” That absolutely includes kindness.

Jump on the “ARK” and enjoy the daily adventures of seeking out ways to show God’s love through our “acts.”

Chad McComas writes from Medford, Oregon.