I wanted to show you the YouTube video below as something that might renew your faith in humanity despite those who seem to be fighting to destroy every aspect of humanity in our lives. Jeff Louis, 22, is a man who has struggled to stay clean after an addiction history and is working as a delivery driver for Gionino’s Pizza in Ohio. That is a rough road to walk, but something happened on a recent delivery that I wanted to share with you.
Louis delivered a large number of pizzas to Life Point Church but was asked outside to bring just one of the pizzas to the minister on the stage inside of the church. Congregation members then proceeded to give him tip after tip . . . $700 worth. It was a Jean Valjean moment. They had decided to reach out to a complete stranger on this holiday to try to improve his life. This is his reaction.
I know that this posting doesn’t offer any analysis of constitutional issues or insights into some emerging crisis or atrocity. However, there is something incredibly profound and encouraging in such accounts of people simply reaching out to a stranger to make a difference in their lives.
Good luck Jeff and thank you to the congregation of Life Point Church.
By the way, the town is appropriately named Mentor, Ohio.
I’m always fascinated by those who have no belief in a higher power. To each his own. Blast God. Blast organized religion. Ultimately, we are each, individually, responsible for our actions and deeds, but, when the itSHay, as BarkinDog puts it, hits the fan, then what? Remember, there are no atheists in foxholes. Don’t know that one? Don’t worry. You will. All in due time.
Good comment Nick. It might have been directed at me for my facetiousness. But I really liked to hear the guy talk to the video and tell us what he said. There are a lot of people who have it rough out there. People of all denomination can assist and this church certainly did so. Someone in that congregation probably knew this guy or knew about his tough life. He spoke well for himself and his gratefulness but also for the human race. Now, that being said. Will someone in the congregation give him a Labrador Retriever! That is what he needs. A good dog with webbed feet who can swim and take him out into the pond. Or the ocean. Thank you JT for this post today.
It is nice to see that even a religious group can sometimes focus on the here and now, and not the ever after. Since it is my opinion is that there is no god, and the lack of hard evidence for a god is on my side, and therefore NO ever after, my focus is always on the here and now. I don’t have to spend any of my time praying to a god or worrying about not getting into heaven. Instead I can spend more time trying to help my fellow man, whatever flavor he or she may be. If the money and time and effort that is spent on god could be refocused to helping people, I can not even imagine how much better our society would be. We don’t have to believe in a supernatural being to be and do good. If you want to believe in god, that’s fine by me, but please audit yourself and your church, and ask yourself if enough is being done for the here and now as compared to the ever after.
I will predecline any prayers or blessings for me, thanks.
Jeff – history and science have shown that there probably is a god, at least an uncaused cause. Someone had to create the Big Bang. It didn’t magic itself up.
Though out mankind there has been a belief in god or gods. Such as systematic and systemic belief shows there probably is a god or gods. That is why I am agnostic.
Great comment, Nick.
I wonder if some of these people you mention could watch Les Miserables without a shred of emotion. How is that possible? Maybe we should detect sociopaths by monitoring their vitals while they watch Les Miserables. If they are unmoved, then they are a sociopath. 🙂
You can name names, Nick. The first sentence I wrote was, “It’s a wonderful gesture.” It’s a compliment toward the people involved, while pointing out that it’s not a compliment toward their nonsense motivation.
You describe yourself as an “addict” of enacting kindness. That reveals who you are as a person. And if suddenly it were proved that a god doesn’t exist, my bet is you’d still care about people. Hence the irrelevance of celestial mandates.
And again with the praying for people. It’s arrogant. I decline.
Here is the difference between a government check and voluntary giving. If Jeff Louis had received that $700 from a government assistance program, it would be received as something owed to him by society. But when people give to him like we see here, it moves his heart. It will make him a giver later when he is able to give. Government needs to stop taxing us so heavily and leave us with more money so we can have more to give. In the end, a better society develops when government is small and the people are able to give more to others.
We need to damn religion when it does bad, and those who hate religion have to put their hate aside and acknowledge there is also good done by religion. We see in comments here, those who are objective enough to put their bias aside, and those who are not. I pray for those who cannot just enjoy this pure expression of love for each other.
We have discussed here previously the power of random acts of kindness. I am an “addict.” I use my professional skills all the time to help people. A woman I’ve known for years had her son get arrested for a felony last week. I sat down w/ them last night and will do what I can, gratis, to help this kid and his attorney. Helping someone you know is pretty easy. But, if people can just do something like what we see here, for a complete stranger, and see the joy. That brings me to my philosophical question. Do some people not get that endorphin like rush when they do good? Or, have they just not come out from their comfort zone and experienced it. I believe in God, but do not believe in organized religion. I believe this is what God wants us to do here on earth. He put us on this earth together because this journey is simply too difficult for it to be a solo endeavor. I thank JT for this post. He obviously gets it and so do most everyone here. People are basically good. And, that’s comes from a PI that has seen the worst in people.
Give him a guide dog for guidance. While you are at it. And praise the lard and pass the ammunition. Praise the Lard on Sunday and Crisco on the rest of the week– the later is less fattening and is less likely to give you heart disease. Hey Zeus, full of juice and don’t let your meat loaf.
That same belief in a higher power also justifies mass atrocity. I’m not impressed. And it isn’t humble when one thinks he or she is created with cosmic intent.
And I decline the arrogant blessing, thanks.
True Dave. Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, it is always good to know that a belief in a higher power will put at least a smidgen of humility in the believers heart to do good for others. You see Dave, you had to go out of your way on such a beautiful story to attack Christianity when it had done you no harm. Thank you and God bless you for helping to make my point.
The evolved religion of Christianity makes the appropriate gesture, to the appropriate person, at the appropriate time.
The solution for Islam and its evolution is to learn from humanity, not simply adhere to a book supposedly written by a pedophile warlord. The seeds of the Christian expression do inhabit Islam but it is Islam itself that must help them grow. Hopefully, eventually, and given the paradigm of Christianity, Islam will advance ethically, morally, and socially and those disgusting parts of their holy book will be relegated to an understanding of how different times were centuries and centuries ago. The hate and power is there in the Old Testament, but Christians have evolved to focus on the New Testament and life, not fear, hate, power, and all the negative aspects of humankind.
Hats off to Life Point Church for showing us how it’s done.
It’s a wonderful gesture. Nevertheless it doesn’t mean any of the various, inconsistent versions of Christianity is true. Any person with a sense of empathy would agree with this action. (If Muslims performed a similar action, which is likely, it wouldn’t validate that Allah is the one true god.)
Helping someone shouldn’t require a celestial mandate.
Damn allergies. May God place his healing hands on this young man and give him the strength to beat this. Light the path that he may follow.
A lovely gift in so many ways.
A great and touching story, to be sure. One never knows what surprising interaction and/or mysterious event will be that infamous ahh-hahh moment–that singular episode which will serve to place our lives on another trajectory.
Having said that, I wonder if the pizza had a thin crust? 🙂
As we grow older, we start to wonder about our mortality. We look at life and ask ourselves, is this all there is. You work hard all of your life, then someone’s idealology changes your life and not always in a good way. Then you suddenly realize just how little you can change the world around you.
You leave this world in the hopes that your life touched someone else’s in a good way. Then suddenly you look at what will be in the afterlife. That’s where God touches each of us, who seek him. I believe in God and that Christ is my savior. I would rather die believing in something holy and pure. I don’t care if anyone calls me a religious nut, however, they better not dare criticize me and then defend islam. God help us all and may he guide our nation down the righteous path of faith and hope. . . .
The people of that church heard God’s voice behind them saying: this is the way, walk ye in it. A person was blessed immensely when people acted on that still small voice.
The people of that church heard God’s voice behind them saying: this is the way, walk ye in it. A person was blessed immensity when people acted on that still small voice.
Oh, it does offer insights into some emerging crisises and atrocity… as a society we have fallen down and the only remedy is to help each other back up, dust ourselves off, and prove to each other that we are still capable of caring about the us instead of the I. One of the most beautiful/moving things I’ve ever seen on the web… thank you for sharing it.
The young man is obviously very touched that people would want to help him. That in and of itself is really sad. I truly hope that he can stay out of the pit of drug addiction. “Life Point” church is a good name, with good people.