when i parked, i thought i recognized the vehicle beside mine as that of one of our pastors. one who has meant so much to tommy - and our family for that matter.
as i walked in, i saw him standing with his back to me. he was on the phone and was trying to convey to the people what he needed on the sandwiches he was ordering. i started to walk up and just hug him, but then changed my mind.
i wanted to buy his and his wife's lunch (she wasn't there, but he had ordered her sandwich). i got one of the employee's attention and motioned them down to the cash register. i briefly explained that he was one of my pastors and that i wanted to buy his lunch (he still hadn't seen me at this point). i paid and then walked back in line as though i hadn't done anything.
when he got ready to pay, the man told him that his lunch had been taken care of. my sweet friend looked at him and said, "excuse me?". the man proceeded to point to me.
the hugs and i love you was all i needed. and i really didn't want him to tell him i paid for it, but there wasn't a way around it, you know? it's not like subway has a ton of people in it....
brother mark challenged us to do things like this a few years ago. tommy and i have done it several times - i'll tell you about a few.... it's such a good feeling.
our first time was at cracker barrel. there was an elderly man sitting alone, which always breaks my heart. we told our waitress, who was also his waitress, to please add his meal to our check.
she asked if we knew him and why we were doing it. we explained to her our challenge from brother mark. she commented that she wished someone would do something like that for her.
i guess she found out we were doing something for her, too, when she saw her tip.
on Christmas day this year, tommy decided that he wanted to go to waffle house in greenwood. yes, waffle house. now please don't get me wrong, i love waffle house - i have to be in the mood for it, though. but it was Christmas and he said he had had all of the "home cooking" he needed.
our waitress was sweet. had a smile on her face. told us about her children.
i think our bill was $12 or so. her tip was almost double that. tommy and i both teared up and talked about how she had to be away from her children on Christmas day to try to provide for her family.
i want to challenge my readers to do something similar. leave a little extra generous tip to someone. pay (anonymously if possible) for someone's meal. leave a little note. thank your cashier (by name) for being friendly.
being a blessing can go a long way - and you never know the impact it may have on the person on the other end of the blessing...
1 comment:
I was just over from Ashley's blog and was reading some of your posts. First of all, your daughter is beautiful and you have a very cute blog. But I also love what you said in this post. We have been talking to our kids about "being a light" to others and things like this accomplish just that. We have a local Christian radio station that has a Pay it Forward week and one of the days is "Drive thru Difference day" where you go through a drive thru and pay for the person behind you. It is amazing how good it feels to do that! When I went through Chick Fil A, the girl said I was the 18th person to do it! That was awesome. Anyway, I am rambling, but thank you for sharing and I hope ro take you up on your challenge!
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