Missional Monday - Random Act of Kindness?!!?

I had a very humorous experience a number of months ago where I was the recipient of a "Random Act of Kindness."  After going for a walk early one weekday morning, my wife and I stopped into our local Locke Street Bakery for a coffee.  While waiting in line to pay, a young lady in front of me turned around and asked what I was having, and proceeded to pay for my order as she paid for her own.  It was quite a nice gesture.  What made it slightly awkward is that she did not ask, nor pay for, my wife who was standing there beside me.  I assured my wife that she just did not realize that we were together, and I think we are over the incident.
Random Acts of Kindness can be fun.  It is certainly nice when you are on the receiving end and there is a certain satisfaction that comes when you are the one administering such an act.  Let's be honest, however, they are certainly not going to change the world.  A free coffee is not going to meet the deep social and economic needs that I see around me.  They don't really address the reality of deep poverty, addiction and mental health that I see everyday on the streets.  They also will not, in and of themselves, be sufficient to introduce people to the depths a reality of the Kingdom of God.  But having said that, I still think that there is room for them.  What they do provide is a first step, a fairly simple beginning to a process that may lead us to deeper and more significant things.  Thinking in terms of Random Acts of Kindness gives us the opportunity to begin to look at life a bit differently.  It invites us to ask, "where is it that I find myself at this moment", and "how can I make this moment count."  I think these are great questions that can begin to lead us into a more missional mindset.  Being missional entails asking questions like "what is God's Mission and how might I participate with Him wherever it is that He has me?"  What may start with an opportunity to pay for someone's coffee, may eventually grow into a life that better sees the needs around it, asks what God may think of those needs, and longs to actively and compassionately respond to those needs in the name of Jesus.   Meeting the physical and spiritual needs around us is to be a foretaste of the Kingdom, and to be a foretaste of the Kingdom is to be missional.