One of the things that impressed me the most in Lance
Richardson's presentation was his personal anecdote telling of a 'service
vacation' he took his family on one time. At first, when he proposed the idea
to his children, they moaned and complained, saying it was a stupid idea. How
could he torment them like this? The teenagers were especially resistant
to the idea. What? go around helping people for our VACATION?!
Well, they did it anyway, and after the first incident, the feeling changed
and began catching on. The good feeling that comes from helping others is
contagious. Lance remarked the miracle as the children began treating each
other with respect and love as well. At one point, one sibling turned to the
other, and said, "Do you know what I like about you?" and then
proceeded to pay him a wonderful compliment. This gesture was repeated by each
of the children as the family drove down the road.
Lance' wife turned to him, with tears in her eyes, and said, "THAT is
a miracle!"
He recounted several specific service projects they did, driving through a
neighborhood and then stopping to offer help to someone who looked like they
needed it. One time, while they were helping someone, a couple of the kids
befriended some teenagers across the street playing basketball. The teens
asked what the family was doing, and when they replied that they were doing a
family service vacation, the teens said, "That is so awesome! I wish we
would do that. Our parents take us to places like Disneyland on our vacations.
We don't get to do stuff like this."
Another especially touching story Lance told about their service vacation
was when they handed a little 'certificate' to a store check out clerk which
read something to the effect, "We appreciate and love you. Have a great
day." The clerk broke into tears and had to go into the back. She later
came out where the family was seated eating a meal, and broke into tears again
telling them how much she had needed that and how grateful she was to them for
that gesture. After she left to return to the back room to regain her
composure, the teen son turned to his Dad and said, "This is so
cool!"
There is indeed something wonderful about serving -- that special feeling
of finding joy that comes when we loose our selves for the sake of helping
someone else. That is a core principle of Zion.
Thanks, Lance, for telling us of this story. (It is included in his tape
"They Saw Our Day.")
Sterling D. Allan
www.greaterthings.com
