This summer, a man from Alabama is travelling across the country, mowing people’s lawns for some reason.

Rodney Smith Jr pulled into the Metroplex from Oklahoma the other night. He stayed at a hotel, then went out and started mowing lawns. I interviewed Smith while outside a Wal-Mart while he was getting ready to start a-mowin’.

Never mind that North Texas was expecting rain. He was ready to go.

Smith has been touring the country. In each city, he mows lawns for veterans, the elderly, single mothers or anyone who is nominated via social media. He’ll hit all 50 states over two months.

Smith says he asked God for a project. God showed him an elderly fellow struggling to mow the lawn, so he decided to mow the lawn for him.

In fact, Smith doesn’t even bring a riding mower [a reporter asks]. The only thing he brings is a push mower. He wanted something small, so he could load it easily into his car and drive from house to house.

I don’t care for yard work. When I bought the Ol’ Scaia Place, Texas was in the middle of the drought, so I planted drought resistant shrubs. The following year, we had our wettest year ever and the drought resistant shrubs died.

Now, I’ve got a yard guy.

My dad’s yard guy was me, though. So I was glad to hear Smith enlists the help of kids to mow the lawn to teach them a lesson. Back in Ohio, I mowed the lawn approximately once a week for approximately half the year. Under Smith’s system, that would have earned me a blue t-shirt. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s actually more than I got for mowing the lawn at my parents’ house, which, looking back now, I did as recently as a vacation in 2013.

“But Alan,” my dad is probably yelling at his computer screen in heaven while, if my mannerisms are any indication, shaking his fist. “A house, comfortable upbringing and quality education were your gift!” Speaking in italics may be hereditary.

If the li’l rascals mow enough lawns, they get a free lawnmower, which to me, sounds less appealing than a t-shirt.

But Smith has a good time mowing. He says people often give him hotel rooms and gas money while he’s on the road.

This is his second trip. Last year, he said he did the whole thing in a few weeks. This time, he decided to take his time and spend two months mowing lawns.

As you can see from the magnets he’s collecting, Smith has covered the eastern seaboard and much of the Midwest. He’ll wrap up July 20 in Alaska and Hawaii. He does not plan to bring a snowblower with him to Alaska [a reporter asks]. He also, I assume, would not have his crew wearing grass skirts when they’re mowing in Hawaii [a reporter thinks it would have been hilarious if he had asked].

I’m open to the Lord’s suggestions, too. If He were to give me a project, though, I would prefer He tell me, “Hey, see that guy struggling with his lawnmower? Maybe go him a sandwich.”