BETTER THAN A POSTCARD!

This past Friday night, ABC’s 20-20 television program featured a story about a guy who has received over 25,000 postcards, I believe it was over the past year or so.  No, I don’t mean postcards from Aunt Mabel saying “Cancun es muy bueno!” nor do I mean postcards of the Sagamore Bridge from Uncle Harry saying, “Having a wonderful time, wish you were here...”.  These were from people who had taken those plain white postcards you get at the post office and drawn messages about what secrets they wanted to get off their chest.  There were some SERIOUS confessions, and some were “very heavy” - stuff like “I hate my daughter”.  It’s all part of an experiment to see if people would mail anonymous “confessional” postcards to a stranger to get some sense of relief or closure, or just to get something bad that they’d done off their chest.  Obviously, it worked!  

I thought about that this weekend.  I SORT OF liked the idea of the postcards, but there was just something lacking- something MISSING.  As a pastor, my counsel is, there was not necessarily any repentance in sending those cards.  It kind of reminds me of what the Book of Hebrews says about the sins of Esau- that he cried and was sorry, but really “found no place of repentance” (see Hebrews 12:17).

I think I have a better idea.  It’s inspired by that famous bumper sticker that urges us to “Practice Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty”.  Now, admittedly I’m a conservative Republican, and that “Senseless Acts of Beauty” line has often made me chuckle!  In spite of that, I have to admit, the bumper sticker DOES have a point:  What if we all really DID that?  Well, I submit that the worldwide results would be much more worthwhile than an anonymous postcard that reads, “I have sexual fantasies about my -same sex- next door neighbor”!  I’ve tried sending out mass e-mails about several issues several times in the past  two or three years.  I’d hoped each of the fifteen or twenty people I sent them to would in turn send them to fifteen or twenty and so on and so on and so on.  That NEVER happened.  Did it hurt my ego?  Truthfully, it did!  So, no I’m NOT proposing one of those mass e-mail things!  Instead, I am proposing this-

I’d love to have everyone  who reads this piece (whether you receive it as an e-mail as some folks will, or whether you read it on my blogat http://journals.aol.com/revrbaril/TheBlogofBobBaril/) do TWO things:  

FIRST:
think of someone you haven’t had any correspondence with in awhile...preferably someone who may have had some hard knocks or disappointments.  Send them a SHORT, FRIENDLY E-Mail.  Again, not a big mass e-mail and not a big wordy thing.  Just make it friendly.  Say hello, “how ya doin?” something like that, and just e-mail it off.  

SECOND:
think of another person that you haven’t had contact with in a longer time.  Send them a short U.S. mail letter.  Yes, I mean postage stamp and all.  I know that means a little more time and energy than an e-mail.  But if people could draw and send those postcards, you can do this.  Now, I know it’s a LOT easier for women.  Females like to get those girly pink cards with pictures of cats saying something like “You’re a SWEET friend!”  Now, admittedly, guys USUALLY don’t go in for that sort of thing.  So, guys, we have to be a little more creative.   For example, I have a friend (I’ll call him Jim) that I went to Bible College with.  He pastors in Georgia.  I only hear from him on rare occasions.  Over the past ten days, two items crossed my desk that I thought he’d really like.  One was a piece of mail that contained something (clean!) that I knew he’d find very funny, and one was an article in a Christian publication that I knew he’d find very inspiring.  I put both in a manilla envelope, included a short note, and mailed it off.

Sending those e-mails and letters will definitely fall in the “Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty” category!  This is Lent.  Now, in the Assemblies of God (unlike Roman Catholicism) we don’t tend to “give up things for Lent”. It’s just not part of Assemblies of God tradition.  But I think DOING some special thing during Lent instead of “giving something up” is a better idea.  So LET’S TRY IT!  Will everybody who reads this send 1 short encouraging e-mail to someone before Easter, and send an encouraging U.S. mail card or letter to someone you have not heard from for awhile, before Easter?

I’d love to know the results...  if friendships are rekindled, people are encouraged, etc.  If you have any interesting results in the weeks ahead, let me know at RevRBaril@aol.com

“Ye are our epistle written in our hearts,  known and read of all men:” (2 Corinthians 3:2)