• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer

Stephen M. Miller

Award-Winning, Bestselling Christian Author

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Blog Features
  • Bible
  • Contact
Painting/photo of Jerusalem Temple-Casual English Bible

One day off work, for a kind deed

Stephen M. Miller
man painting
DOER. You’ve got your Christians who talk a good deed. And you’ve got your Christians who do the deed. This is Gary T., a friend of mine, helping stain a deck yesterday for a gent with Multiple Sclerosis.

I TOOK MOST OF THE DAY OFF yesterday. It was for a church thing.

Here’s the problem.

On April 27 our church had what we call a Mega Mission day. We rallied folks from our church to do spring chores for people in our city who needed help. We worked with the city official who handles housing problems, and we got her to give us a list of people who needed help with simple repairs, painting, landscaping.

Most of the folks were elderly or had chronic health problems.

We had about 100 people show up that Saturday. And we did a fair hunk of work that day on about a couple dozen homes.

We missed one important job.

And it was for one of our own. A couple in our Sunday morning Bible study group.

The gent has Multiple Sclerosis, early stages. The gal has recently developed heart problems that keep her from doing manual labor for more than 10 minutes at a stretch. The couple needed their deck stained.

Our Bible study group was going to be all over that mission project. We adopted it as our own.

But it rained.

So we put the deck on deck, waiting for the first dry Saturday.

For this particular stain, the manufacturer recommended 24-48 hours of dry weather before the staining and 48 hours of dry weather afterward.

The perfect Saturday never came.

All we got were perfect storms…perfectly timed to stain block us.

Weekend after wet weekend for a month and a half.

We even had a flood in that stretch, with cars floating down streets.

April passed. May should never have bothered.

Two wet weekends into June and we were fed up with waiting on the perfect Saturday.

On Sunday, we whipped out our smart phones, checked the weather report, and decided that a perfect Tuesday would do quite nicely.

That was a normal day off for the gent who lived in the house. We had some retired folks in class, some teachers on summer break, and myself – who, being self-employed, has a wonderfully understanding boss.

We set the date and time for the staining: 10 a.m., Tuesday, June 11.

I woke at 6 a.m. to the sound of thunder, which I hoped was a truck.

By 6:20, rain was falling and I was thinking bad words.

I sent a text message to the gent, who lives a few miles southwest of me.

“Oh man, I am getting rain! Are you?”

“Thunder and dark clouds.”

That’s all he got, thankfully. No rain.

We started painting at 10 a.m. Finished by 2 p.m.

Sunny and 90 degrees (32 C).

Somewhere around noon, when I was wondering about the symptoms of heat stroke, my wife arrived with pizza and an ice chest full of cold drinks.

I’ve attended many churches in my lifetime. But none as hands-on helpful as this one.

I love it.

Helping folks in practical ways feels as right as helping them spiritually. In fact, I’m not sure there’s much difference.

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden….In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
—Jesus, (Matthew 5:14, 16, CEV)

“Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.”
—Paul, (Galatians 6:10 NLT)

PS. For the record, I don’t post blogs like this to brag about how wonderful I am. I know all too well that my wife and kids could offer a counterpoint. I post blogs like this to help encourage us all to look for opportunities to help folks in our general vicinity. If you’re already thinking of someone you know who needs an angel in a bone bag, it’s working.

Share this:

  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...
View All Posts - Ordered by Most Recent First
« Previous
Next »

About Stephen M. Miller

STEPHEN M. MILLER is an award winning bestselling Christian author of easy-reading books about the Bible and Christianity and author of the Casual English Bible® paraphrase. His books have sold over two million copies and include The Complete Guide to the Bible and Who’s and Where’s Where in the Bible.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sidebar

Casual English Bible Website

Featured Book

Complete Guide to the Bible

Complete Guide to the Bible
Buy from Amazon
Buy from Books-A-Million
Buy from Christian Book Distributor
Buy from Google Play

Latest Posts

  • I do one thing better than God May 27, 2025
  • When our faith glitches May 5, 2025
  • Job is the right book for me now April 16, 2025

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog Features
  • Books
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

Copyright © 2025 · Stephen M. Miller · All Rights Reserved

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
Reject AllAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
%d