day twenty-three: good intentions

Lately, despite our good intentions, nothing seems to go as planned.

At the beginning of the day today, we intended on taking dinner to a young couple who are struggling with cancer. But good intentions weren't enough today...

As I walked down the street to Coffee Underground this morning (great place, by the way...one of my favorites in town), I passed a guy on a bench. He was smoking a cigarette, wearing old jeans, a ragged looking shirt, dirty shoes, and carrying a backpack. I stopped and offered to buy him a cup of coffee at the coffeehouse. He said, "Actually, that's where I'm headed." And a few minutes after I walked in, so did he.

I had good intentions to be kind a homeless guy. Instead I think I insulted a hipster.

(If you need a refresher on how to tell the difference, check out this video clip.) 

We ended up having to rework our plans to take dinner to the couple because of a young adult church event. (We're taking them dinner later in the week, when we can actually spend time with them.) Since it was such late notice, we thought we would donate to Heifer International instead. But alas...our good intentions were subject to change.

As we picked up ingredients for tomorrow's project at the grocery store, we noticed a small piece of paper next to the register: "Food for Sharing."

Food for Sharing. "Food is Love."

It was surprisingly simple. As we checked out, the cashier just punched in how much to add to our bill ($4.69 for Bronze level, $9.62 for Silver, $14.84 for Gold), and the appropriate items were donated to a local food bank. We went for Gold, which meant the following items were donated:
- Plumrose canned ham
- 2 cans Starkist tuna
- 1 lb Publix long-grain rice
- Publix fruit cocktail
- Publix cut green beans
- Publix grape jelly
- Publix peanut butter

We had good intentions when we started the day today. But we had no intention of doing the good we ended up doing.

So here's the revised calendar of what we intend to do. I'm sure will change at some point, despite (or maybe even because of) our good intentions:

18	19	20	21	22	23	24
	Pay extra at grocery store to donate food to food banks	Make breakfast for ministers at church	Provide fertilizer for Travelers Rest High School organic garden	Make dinner for couple struggling with medical issues	Give out bags of sugar-free candy at nursing homes
25	26	27	28	29	30	31
	Donate money to Heifer International	Take snacks/coffee for police officers	Leave dollars in vending machines	Volunteer at United Ministries	Donate food to Harvest Hope

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
				Provide  homemade communion elements for Maundy Thursday service		Volunteer at Triune Mercy Center preparing and serving a meal