a story about corndogs, diet coke, and generosity

This past Wednesday night, just before our youth service was beginning to start, I thought I would run across the street to the QT (Quik Trip) that is conveniently located a stone's throw from our church.  My stomach was reminding me that I had forgotten to pack my dinner for the night and my nutritional/health conscious side of me was yearning for a corndog and a diet coke (minor sarcasm intended) from the most amazing gas station convenient store ever created.  So, off to QT I went.

Now, if you don't know me, I love starting conversations with random people.  I feel like so often we go through life avoiding eye contact with people so we don't have to engage in human interaction.  I even catch myself doing this at times.  However, something I enjoy doing (generally) is finding ways to talk and engage with people.  I have had dozens of interesting edifying conversations with people by doing this.

Back to the story.

So, I am next in line getting ready to purchase my healthy cuisine when the cashier calls me up.  The gentleman next to me had already paid for his gasoline but was still fiddling with his wallet.  As I walked up to the counter I showed the QT employee my two items and delightfully told him that the gentleman next to me was going to pay for them.  This is an example of one of the many awkward ways I talk to people.

That is when something pretty cool happened.

With a complete straight face, the man said, "I would be glad to do that, I got ya."  I was surprised by his words and immediately told him I was joking and proceeded to take out my wallet.  He continued, "If you don't have the money, I would be glad to purchase your food for you."  Again, I assured him I was only joking and apologized for the confusion.  As I paid for my food, I turned to him and said, "Wow, you must have a pretty good heart to be willing to do something like this."  He responded by saying, "I just know there are a lot of people who are hungry in the world and I wanted to help you out if you needed some assistance."

I patted the man on the back and said, "God bless you brother, that is a great attitude," and I walked out of the store.

And that is my corndog/diet coke/generosity story.

Along the way

A good friend and mentor of mine was sharing his heart with me the other day.  I could tell something was weighing on him.  He told me about the unrest that he was experiencing in his life and how he felt God may be calling him towards pastoral ministry.  While I may be a little bias, my friend would make an excellent pastor.  As I questioned him a little more about his thoughts and feelings he told me about some investigation he had already done into serving at a church but his efforts did not seem to be resulting in any concrete progress.  This yearning within him had been there for almost four years and he couldn't help but feel a little discouraged that nothing seemed to have manifested from the steps he had already taken in this process.  He was beginning to question the significance of what he was doing with his life.

What you also need to know about my friend is that he and his wife are amazing people.  They are the kind of people you wish you could 'copy and paste' and give to every single church in the world.  You know the kind of people I am talking about. And while I could very easily go into great detail about all the ways my friend and his wife serve God and serve others through countless ways, I will remain vague to protect his identity.

As my friend continued to share his heart, I resonated with the different things he was feeling and thinking.  He had dreams of where he could be and what he could be doing but felt discouraged because those dreams still seemed quite far away.  As he shared his heart, I couldn't help but think to myself that I've been there.  I've felt and experienced very similar things in my own life. 

And while my friend is much wiser than I am, I felt the need to remind him of a truth that God has been reminding me of lately.  It can be very easy to look down the road at the things we dream about and wish for and think, "If only I was there and doing this, THEN I would really be doing something significant with my life..."  Dreaming, wishing, and hoping are all great things.  However, sometimes we can get lost in our dreaming, wishing, and hoping and forget that God desires to use us here and now as well. Sometimes we can get so caught up in 'what could be' that we don't do a great job of being present here and now.  While God may have specific things in store for us down the road, I believe that God does not sit back and wait for us to reach that destination in order to use us to do his work. God desires to use us in and through the journey, whether or not we ever get there or not.

Here is a prayer that I have been striving to live out and pray in my life:

'God, help me to be 100% available to you in any and all things.  Help me to be present and faithful where I am right now... And if you should ever desire to have me do different work in a different place, help me to have a sensitive heart, open ears, and open eyes so that I may recognize and respond to your prompting.'