Minute With Mallon: Be the Light: A Lesson from Russell!

Today's Minute With Mallon will be a little different than usual…  

Folks who live in my area know that we had a very bad storm on the evening of July 30th.  Tens of thousands of customers were without power and at one point, Hall County Emergency Managements said that there were over 50 trees blocking roads in the county during the height of the storm.

The next morning our yard was a total mess. New Leaf Landscape (the best!) had been there earlier in the afternoon and it had looked amazing. But after the storm it was full of large limbs and tons of debris. In short, it looked terrible. 

Across the street from where Sandy and I live there are four Pickleball courts in a beautiful park.  We had made a decision the day before to go play for an hour and a half early the next morning. I decided to carry a blower with me since the courts were surrounded by large oak trees.

We took a little time blowing off the courts and then began playing. 

About 30 minutes later, one of the regular players named Russell showed up. He had a powerful, macdaddy blower on his shoulders.  He asked if he could continue the work we had started and we said absolutely!  

Russell took over where I had left off and did an amazing job getting every leaf and stick completely off the courts. Then he went outside of the courts and began doing the sidewalks through the park. I was impressed!  

Then he walked down towards the road.

Sandy and I were playing so we lost track of Russell. After about 20 minutes, we still heard the blower but couldn't see Russell.

She happened to look down the hill towards our home and there was Russell, blowing and carrying off all the debris from our yard, the flower beds, and the driveway.

I Couldn't Believe It!

We grabbed our stuff including the blower I'd brought up, and headed down the hill. I joined Russell, told him he was my new favorite human being on the planet and got to work with him. He's already completed most of it.

After a while, we turned off our blowers, and Sandy and I began thanking him. He was walking towards his truck when he turned around and looked at the roof.

"Hey, if you want me to do the roof, I'd be more than happy to. I'm not afraid of heights at all."

…Well heck yea!!!  (Not a fan of heights myself! 🤣) 

We grabbed a ladder and he was up there for about 15 minutes doing it thoroughly, even the gutter guards! Again, the storm had been really bad so the roof was covered.

When he came back down, he and I went to the backyard and did a little more work. 

In my mind I kept thinking, "Wow! I just can't believe that he’s doing this for us!"

As we were finishing up, I ran in the house and grabbed a nice cold drink for Russell. 

Like me, Russell is a man of faith. It's a very important part of his life, and you can tell that by his constant smile and by the way he treats people. You can also tell it by his demeanor. He’s big, strong, and competent. He's what they call a “Man's Man.”  But he's also very kind and polite. You can see it the way he talks, the way he carries himself, and the way he smiles.

I put my hand on his shoulder, looked him in the eye and said, "Russell, there's a question that you read on bracelets sometimes - WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?). There is no doubt that you just did EXACTLY what Jesus would do!” When he would see a need, he would stop what he was doing and help. But not only did he help, he did things above and beyond any expectations.  He was a master of it.  And you just did that for us my brother!" 

He smiled, said thanks, and humbly walked back towards his truck.  

Wow! 👊🏻

So in closing, I just want to say a couple of things:

I'm glad I live in a place where there are "Russells!"  I thank God!!!

I’m glad that there are people who don’t let the clock control their lives.

And, quite frankly, I want to be more like Russell in my life.  What an example he showed us!

Together let’s try to be the type of people who when they see needs, they stop and they serve! It's something we can all strive for!

And thanks Russell for being a light in this world! We need more good people like you my friend!!  ✋

My friend Russell!

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Hope you have an incredible week my friends!

Robert