Are you gonna Hug me?

We've had the most amazing experiences sharing the Thank You Fairy story with people that we come in contact with.... Here's another great story.

This past weekend, Caroline and I were doing our Saturday morning shopping after our workout and the store was empty at 8:00 A.M. We went about getting things and over by the milk, a very nice black woman was there and I noticed that she let out a big "sigh"... kind of like saying... oh boy, more work to do... She wasn't upset, just tired... God put me on the job....

As I walked over, Caroline caught up with me and I gave this woman the Thank You Fairy story... She listened with the most attentive eyes, it was a stolen moment. She soaked in every word, and like always, when I got to the point of thanking her for what she does and nobody notices....except the Thank You Fairy and God, you could see the tears in her eyes....

I finished and she went about thanking me and reading the card.... then she looked right at me and said.... "you gonna hug me or what"? It was one of those Mom kinda demands that you have to do nomatter how old you are... so I hugged her, Caroline hugged her and Jesus hugged all of us along with Brooke up there in heaven.

As I walked down the isle to check out, tears welled up, knowing that Brooke saw it all, and was cheering for us...

You know it's God when you walk up to a stranger, share a story in 60 seconds, she demands that you give her a hug and everyone cries tears of Joy.

Thank you God and Thank you Brooke.

Early Morning Blessing

If you want to see Jesus, do the TYF thing! For real. I just got back from walking down to the Strawberry Festival that is held here in Ponchatoula, LA every year. It's our big carnival..actually second only to Mardi Gras. When I walked down, it was 6 AM and nobody was there, I didn't see a soul. I walked down through town and then back up 7th. When I got to the corner where the festival begins, I saw a guy riding a bike, called him over and told him the TYF story. I saw Jesus.

We talked for about 10 minutes and the love of God was all there. He works for the carnival, all he has in life is his bike and two bags of clothes. If he quits traveling, he won't have anything. He was a chef for 19 years and then his life fell apart... i don't have the details, but he told me that he and God are not on the same page.. I respected that and told him that I would pray for him and when the door opens for him to settle into a town with a job cooking, he would let me know. He put my card in his wallet and we parted friends.

Then I kept walking and ran across some kids emptying trash, TYF'd them, brought smiles to their faces and I saw Jesus. Then I found the guys cleaning out the Port-O-Lets....and I say...Oh Yeah...these guys need thanked... so I TYF'd them and I'm telling you ....I SAW JESUS!

It's real, and it's right there in front of us if we just step out.....and Thank somebody.

One week later....what's changed?

Brooke went to heaven, and we celebrated her life one week ago.... All of us are grieving in our own way. Thank you for allowing me to share all that I have been sharing. Each email, each TYF card takes one more brick off...and tons left to go..

So what has changed?
It takes me longer.
It takes me longer to get out of bed, I spend more time thanking God for the ordinary
It takes me longer to hug Caroline in the morning realizing it may be the last
It takes me longer to fuel up the truck.... I always see somebody that needs to hear the TYF Story
It takes me longer to drive to work, I am pulled over by God to share
It takes me longer to get through the Grocery Store
It takes me longer to do my work out in the morning.
It takes me longer to work in the yard, neighbors are out and God wants me to share.
Life's ordinary moments are clearly extraordinary....and it takes me longer.
So what if I'm late
so what if I'm slower, less productive in the world's eye.
It's not about me, it's All about God
Thank you Brooke for the amazing gift of the Thank You Fairy!

A Real Easter Story

Brooke's crusade of The Thank You Fairy is an Easter story in every way. From death and darkness to Resurrection and glory... it's all there and a massive blessing for us all.

I don't have an accurate count, but I know that Caroline and I are over 300 stories so far. Every ONE is an amazing experience. I have the story down to a minute and when I first walk up to somebody, they think I'm nuts...ok Caroline agrees.... I tell them that I have a story for them.... and you should see the look in their eyes... There is a kid in all of us and I've seen it everytime... it's like they're saying.. story time.. gee ok.... some tough guys try to hold onto a macho thing, but they break too and they still want to hear. I only had to chase down one woman who was in a hurry and I said, You gotta hear this story...by the end, she was crying and thanking me all over the place.

One minute that massively impacts somebody. When I get to the part where I turn the tables on them and say, "there is something you need to be thanked for, I don't know what it is, but YOU do and the Thank You Fairy does, so on behalf of the Thank You Fairy, YOU are thanked".. that's when you see the transformation of their heart and that is when you will SEE JESUS, live and in person. Women Cry, Men cry, tough guys cry, busy people cry, everyone, and I mean everyone thanks me. It is a moment that is burned in my mind when I see their spirt lifted through the look in their eyes.

All of the stories are magificent, but I want to share one specifically. God told me that this crusade is HIS and cuts across every human group, affiliation, religion etc... So He wanted to show Caroline and I that it was the case. We were in Sam's club and we had TYF'd a Grandma and her grandkids and then were around the frozen food section where they do food demos. They were giving away a paring knife for some reason and the crowd was gathering. It was kinda funny and I commented out loud, "a paring knife, oh boy, oh boy", made several people laugh.

Off to our left a beautiful young woman with the most striking blue eyes and the Islamic head wrap was working her way past us. She was laughing at what I said and as I moved my cart away from hers, God said... OK big boy, throw it on her.... So I said, Hey, I have a story for you...... she looked at me with those eyes and listened. As I made my way through the story I felt God touching her heart and I felt her compassion in her eyes. Caroline was captivated as well. When I finished, she was taken back and said, Thank you, it is a beautiful story and in my religion, we say that if you don't thank people, you are ignoring God! she also said,I pray to God for you to have Patience. Wow! for those of you who know the story (read it on the link above) you will see that God's scripture for us in this whole deal is, ....be still and know that I am God, Psalm 45:10. And now, we have a muslim tell us the same thing. We visited for a while and and had a really cool conversation.

We thanked each other and parted. As Caroline and I walked away, we just looked at each other and were speachless. When we finally talked, we both said something to the effect... great...that just blew our whole reality of muslums. And then, I know for a fact... beyond a doubt, that Brooke was up there saying Yeah! That's exactly what we need to have guys see and experience. That's the message here. This REALLY can change the world, one thank you at a time.

Do the Thank You Fairy (TYF) thing...

Ok, I'm telling ya, this is so cool if you do it. We're calling it the TYF (Thank You Fairy) thing. What you do is go up to a stranger and say something to this effect:

Hey, I got a quick story that I want to tell you, it's kinda sad, but really cool too. I knew a girl (or heard about a girl) who died suddenly at 19 years old. She was a freshman at UC Berkely, perfect health and a blood clot killed her instantly. That's the sad part.... the really cool part is that a couple weeks earlier, she shared with friends that her "dream job" would be to be THE THANK YOU FAIRY... How cool is that.. Ok, so now she is and I work for her. She wants you to know that there is something you need to be thanked for... I don't know what it is, but you do, and she does too.... so consider yourself THANKED, by the Thank you Fairy... God bless you and have a wonderful day...

I guarantee you that you will be blown away with that short exchange. It will floor you and I want to hear about it. Go out there and do the TYF thing and then tell us about it here.

This is an amazing gift from God and Brooke, Brooke wanted to change the world.... and I believe in my heart that she will.... one thank you at a time.

Be blessed always and in all ways.... share, share, share your stories..... and oh yeah... THANK YOU

Brooke is taken back home

Hello everyone,
My 19 year old daughter, in perfect health, a freshman at UC Berkely, passed away suddenly this past monday. The cause of death was a major blod clot that stopped her heart. I am here in Portland, OR working with family to plan the funeral.

The bible tells us to "count it all Joy", at times like this, it seems unreachable....but the Bible and God tell us also to grieve. John 11:35 says, "Jesus wept". It is the shortest verse in the bible and it was at the time when Jesus was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. When He saw the grief of everyone, Jesus cried with them..... knowing that in a few moments He was going to fix the situation, He still agonized with them.... Jesus is weaping with us now, and He also knows the glory on the other side of the ashes.

Each day is hard, but with each batch of tears, and prayer and the Love of God, we're all getting by. I have been praying to see God in all this and I have. The outreaching of so many of you had made it clear that a deep pool of Love is there in people, my friends, and people that I don't even know that gets tapped into at a time like this. People don't know what to say, but the fact that they reach out shows the love in their heart. There is noting that you can say at a time like this, but just saying, "I'm here, I hurt for you and You're in my prayers" is the most amazing medicine you can provide.

God also shared with me some scripture. On my way to the airport in New Orleans, God put Psalm 46:10 in my heart, "Be still and know that I am God". It was clear and comforting. On the way up here, I must have said it a thousand times and each time, it was comforting. During the week, the verse was powerful in my mind. When we went to meet with the Pastor to plan the service, their church has a sign out front where they post messages...... the message on the sign......you gessed it...."be still and know that I am God". So for knucklehead football players like me, that is God saying....Hey, I want you to pay attention to this....Be Still and Know that I AM GOD.

God has our backs, we aren't supposed to understand all this right now, We are here to Grieve, and cry out to God for comfort and know, without a doubt, that HE is GOD and has all of this figured out....When it's time for us to know, we will... until then....it's all about FAITH.

God bless you all, may the peace of Christ invade your hearts in a way that you never could have imagined. I love you.

jeff