Undeserved Blessing: The Medal

Okay, today was a good day...but I want to finish talking about yesterday, because it was so awesome.

First of all...to back-track. On Friday, my daughter-in-law's mother, Kim...got it? She told me that one of her running friends, Debbie, liked to run these I run 4 ____ races. She said that Debbie runs for a special little friend of hers that has CP.

In the course of conversation, Debbie told Kim that she was running in an "I run 4" race in Texas...and it was for Down Syndrome awareness.

Well, Kim told her about Joshua, and Debbie was intrigued. She said, "well, I'll run for Joshua, too!"

I thought it was so sweet.

Kim told me that Debbie said that, during the race, she prays for the person she's running for. Kim told me that she sent her a couple of pictures of Joshua, so that she would know what he looked like...and then Kim sent US a picture of Debbie.

In one of the pictures, Debbie had written on her calf, "I R 4 Joshua."

Apparently, Debbie had a personal best time in her race, and she got a medal. Actually, they gave her TWO medals. She told Kim that she was sending one medal to the little girl she usually runs for...and the other medal, she was sending to Joshua.

True to her word, on Tuesday, the medal arrived in the mail...and I mean, I could.not.even.

This girl...Debbie...she is a complete stranger to our family, and she did such a kind thing for Joshua. And, by blessing him...she blessed us...and everyone who knows us.

Who does this?

Seriously...who does this?

I was overwhelmed by her kindness. It might have seemed like such a small thing to her...but it was a BIG thing to us. Joshua loved getting her medal, but for me...well, there's just nothing greater anyone can do for me, than to tell me you are praying for one of my kids.

Nothing.

Joshua pulled the medal out of the package. It's big and heavy...and in the shape of Texas. It's really cool!

We talked a long time about Debbie, and about the kindness she was showing to him. I said, "do you deserve that medal?" Joshua said, "I don't know if I do or not." I said, "well, did you EARN it?" He said, "no...Mrs. Debbie earned it."

This led to another theological discussion of how, just like Mrs. Debbie gave Joshua a free gift that he didn't deserve or earn...God gave us a free gift that we didn't deserve or earn, when he sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.

And we talked about mercy. And about being kind to others...even if we don't know them.

"So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up." Galatians 6:9