God working in everyday life...
I have noticed in my life, that God uses crazy and unusual circumstances to encourage me when I am least expecting it. As I begin to think about my life, I realize how often this seems to happen. Whether it is a simple text message I receive, facebook message, or everyday conversation, God always shows up when I need him. Today was one of those days where he showed up in a way, where I didn't expect him to show up at all. Not because I didn't think he could, but just because I wasn't really thinking about it.
Well, today I went to church just like every Sunday, and went to the service just like every (most) Sundays. Nothing was different, other than there was a "father's day" panel instead of a sermon. I really enjoyed and was challenged by what was said, even though I myself am not a Father. Church got out and I was talking with some of the high school students that I have worked with for a while. One of them recently moved, and was back down here for a little while. We wanted to get together before he left to go back home. Again, there was nothing out of the ordinary. After our young adult group got out, I met up the him to grab some food and catch up with him.
When we started driving I didn't even ask where he wanted to go, which is pretty unusual for me. Honestly, at first I was thinking, "hmm, we should go to McDonald's." Then realized, "nah, I go there every week when I meet with my accountability partner, so I really don't want to go there." So instead I say, "hey, how does pizza hut sound?" So we head to pizza hut.
We make it to Pizza Hut, and there are literally like 10 people in the restaurant (3 groups including us). So we sit down and order. We eat some delicious food (Pizza and Garlic Cheese Bread :) ) and continue to talk. One of the conversations we had was about making an impact in the lives that you can. In other words, God plants us in different fields. Not everyone is in business, or teaching, or engineering, or construction or farming, etc. We each have a group of people that we impact. Right now, God has blessed me with a position at Gordon Food Service. So right now, one of the biggest fields he has planted me in is the Accounts Payable department (until he moves me). With this blessing, God wants me to bless others.
So back to the story, as the student and I are having this conversation, the group of people had recently left from the table behind us. The waiter was cleaning up the table, and we hear him say something along the lines of that's insulting (or frustrating). Without going into too much detail, the table had left a very, very small tip. One that is big enough to where you know they didn't just "forget" to leave a tip, but small enough to feel like someone just really doesn't like you. Why they left the tip they gave doesn't really matter though.
The waiter ended up walking back and doing other stuff. Later he checked our table again to make sure we were doing alright. At this point, there was no customers left in the restaurant but us. All of the sudden we start making conversation. He said he had been working at that Pizza Hut for 1 1/2 years. He told us the story of how he got the job and how he was getting ready to finish up school, and that he only had 4 classes left until he got his associates. Next thing we knew, he was telling us how he was living with his father, because they lost their mom a year ago. At one point, we offered to pray for him, and he looked like he was the happiest person on earth, because someone wanted to pray for him. He gladly accepted the offer, and we prayed for him. He continued telling us about this 90 day journey that he was taking to find God. He said that since he started, he had felt so much more peace in his life. I believe at one point, he said it was like he could handle so much more than he could before. It was so encouraging for me to hear that. He continued talking to us about how he was just getting over an addiction. He said he was looking for a place where he could go for help with this, because even though he was working through the addiction the temptation was still very present sometimes. The LORD reminded me of the ministry that we have at our church, Celebrating Recovery. And he was going to write it down, but then again the LORD reminded me, that the information about it was in the church bulletin. We ended up giving him the bulletin and told him he could call the people in charge of it. Again, he was just so thrilled about this. It has been a long time since I have seen someone so interested and so much desire to find relief in the LORD. He ended up having to go so that he could go back to his job, so the conversation basically ended there.
I wanted to share this story for two main reasons. First of all, I wanted to share it because like I said earlier, God can use people in crazy ways to encourage others. I was absolutely thrilled to have met this guy. A man seeking God. Hoping that one day he would find the true meaning of life. His story was in a lot of ways heartbreaking. Yet through these heartbreaking stories, God opened up the door for this conversation to happen. He prepared both the waiter's heart and our hearts. He softened my heart to being open to having a conversation with our waiter. He softened our waiter's heart to being open about his story, not holding back, but being open to talking about the "rough patches" in his life.
Secondly, I wanted to share this story to show how God doesn't just plant us in the fields we think of. Today, Gordon Food Service was not the field God planted me in. God planted me in a restaurant. A place where I would normally go (and still was there) to be served, God turned it around for me to serve. One of the pastors at the church I once went to said, "Well, I'm going to McDonald's to serve the LORD, so I might as well get something to eat." I really think that is what God wants us to do. He wants us to be open to us being used no matter where we are or why we're there.
Well, today I went to church just like every Sunday, and went to the service just like every (most) Sundays. Nothing was different, other than there was a "father's day" panel instead of a sermon. I really enjoyed and was challenged by what was said, even though I myself am not a Father. Church got out and I was talking with some of the high school students that I have worked with for a while. One of them recently moved, and was back down here for a little while. We wanted to get together before he left to go back home. Again, there was nothing out of the ordinary. After our young adult group got out, I met up the him to grab some food and catch up with him.
When we started driving I didn't even ask where he wanted to go, which is pretty unusual for me. Honestly, at first I was thinking, "hmm, we should go to McDonald's." Then realized, "nah, I go there every week when I meet with my accountability partner, so I really don't want to go there." So instead I say, "hey, how does pizza hut sound?" So we head to pizza hut.
We make it to Pizza Hut, and there are literally like 10 people in the restaurant (3 groups including us). So we sit down and order. We eat some delicious food (Pizza and Garlic Cheese Bread :) ) and continue to talk. One of the conversations we had was about making an impact in the lives that you can. In other words, God plants us in different fields. Not everyone is in business, or teaching, or engineering, or construction or farming, etc. We each have a group of people that we impact. Right now, God has blessed me with a position at Gordon Food Service. So right now, one of the biggest fields he has planted me in is the Accounts Payable department (until he moves me). With this blessing, God wants me to bless others.
So back to the story, as the student and I are having this conversation, the group of people had recently left from the table behind us. The waiter was cleaning up the table, and we hear him say something along the lines of that's insulting (or frustrating). Without going into too much detail, the table had left a very, very small tip. One that is big enough to where you know they didn't just "forget" to leave a tip, but small enough to feel like someone just really doesn't like you. Why they left the tip they gave doesn't really matter though.
The waiter ended up walking back and doing other stuff. Later he checked our table again to make sure we were doing alright. At this point, there was no customers left in the restaurant but us. All of the sudden we start making conversation. He said he had been working at that Pizza Hut for 1 1/2 years. He told us the story of how he got the job and how he was getting ready to finish up school, and that he only had 4 classes left until he got his associates. Next thing we knew, he was telling us how he was living with his father, because they lost their mom a year ago. At one point, we offered to pray for him, and he looked like he was the happiest person on earth, because someone wanted to pray for him. He gladly accepted the offer, and we prayed for him. He continued telling us about this 90 day journey that he was taking to find God. He said that since he started, he had felt so much more peace in his life. I believe at one point, he said it was like he could handle so much more than he could before. It was so encouraging for me to hear that. He continued talking to us about how he was just getting over an addiction. He said he was looking for a place where he could go for help with this, because even though he was working through the addiction the temptation was still very present sometimes. The LORD reminded me of the ministry that we have at our church, Celebrating Recovery. And he was going to write it down, but then again the LORD reminded me, that the information about it was in the church bulletin. We ended up giving him the bulletin and told him he could call the people in charge of it. Again, he was just so thrilled about this. It has been a long time since I have seen someone so interested and so much desire to find relief in the LORD. He ended up having to go so that he could go back to his job, so the conversation basically ended there.
I wanted to share this story for two main reasons. First of all, I wanted to share it because like I said earlier, God can use people in crazy ways to encourage others. I was absolutely thrilled to have met this guy. A man seeking God. Hoping that one day he would find the true meaning of life. His story was in a lot of ways heartbreaking. Yet through these heartbreaking stories, God opened up the door for this conversation to happen. He prepared both the waiter's heart and our hearts. He softened my heart to being open to having a conversation with our waiter. He softened our waiter's heart to being open about his story, not holding back, but being open to talking about the "rough patches" in his life.
Secondly, I wanted to share this story to show how God doesn't just plant us in the fields we think of. Today, Gordon Food Service was not the field God planted me in. God planted me in a restaurant. A place where I would normally go (and still was there) to be served, God turned it around for me to serve. One of the pastors at the church I once went to said, "Well, I'm going to McDonald's to serve the LORD, so I might as well get something to eat." I really think that is what God wants us to do. He wants us to be open to us being used no matter where we are or why we're there.
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