I got to experience a cool thing today at work. A dude and his wife came in and sat in my section. I try to say something different to every single table. I don’t know why, it just makes the night more exciting for me. At this particular table I forgot to introduce myself. So quickly the guy interrupted me and asked my name. He then proceeded to introduce himself and his wife and then shake my hand. It was done very friendly like and not in a creepy overbearing way. It was cool.
They were very talkative and interesting. He’s a computer engineer who on the side is developing a game for the xbox 360. Pretty cool I thought. There whole family plays the Wii together, including the wife and four year old. Pretty cool I thought.
I got the feeling like they were Christians. Sometimes I get this feeling with my tables. Sometimes they get this feeling from me. Is that weird? I don’t think it should be.
A few minutes later they began whispering to me. This doesn’t happen often at a restaurant. They quietly asked if they could buy one of my other tables dinners for them. Secretly. For no reason. I said sure and they said thanks.
When the woman and her daughter asked for their bill I nonchalantly told them that they could leave, someone wanted to pay their bill for them. They were shocked. They didn’t believe me. They even tried to argue with me, but I just told them that they couldn’t pay for dinner and that if they truly wanted to buy dinner with that money they’d need to find a homeless person or something. They were truly grateful and left me a much larger tip than was necessary (they even called back later that night to give me a compliment…odd, ’cause I wasn’t the reason they had a good night)
This has happened before. It’s not horribly rare at our restaurant. But it almost always comes with a catch. It’s usually that they are Christians and in the end ask to pray for you, or invite you to church, or something like that. It’s a cool thing. I don’t think it’s manipulative, I think it’s putting your money where your mouth is. I was expecting a gospel message, but it never came. I even told them about living in Portugal and working with a church, and they still did not give the invitation I expected. I thought about asking if they were Christ followers, but in the end I decided against it. I decided against it not because I was embarrassed to ask. No, I ask lots of stupid questions. Rather I realized that it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter because whether they were followers of Jesus or not, what they did honored God. It was a simple and beautiful act of worship. No strings attached. They may not have known the God to which they gave honor, but all good and perfect things come from above. God is the source of goodness.
Have you ever been on the giving or receiving end of an exchange like this?
I wanna be one of those people!I really do beleive that there is inherent good in people; that most folks WANT to be honorable and kind and generous. I think it's a God-fingerprint. Evidence that we really are made in His image.I also believe that we are all plagued by our lower nature; that, like gravity, we are naturally self-serving, greedy pigs.There's something in me that even hopes that those good people AREN'T Christians. I want to beleive that God is leaving evidence that His presence is still felt even when there's no life-obedience.
I like you Ry.
I've never done it, nor had it done for me, but it used to happen pretty frequently when I worked the drive-thru at Chick-fil-A. Always uplifted my day. Praise God for such people!
I wanna be one of those people too kaydub. Wouldn't it be fun to do that and see the other tables reaction?weird it wouldn't let me post as a blogger But I could as other. Am I an other?
ron and I got a chance to do this.we also got a chance to leave a BIG tip to a server on a slow night. I love to share my blessings with others, i wish that i would practice this more often. what a great story.
Yeah, I like it better that way, without the hook. Sure, in the long run, people should know where your commitments are, whatever they are. If you lead an extraordinary life, people might just want to learn something about it, but if you're only going to touch a life for a moment, can the sales pitch and be a good person. In Acts 28, Paul heals a boatload of people (an Island-load, Malta, actually), but there is no evidence that he said one word about Jesus ('cause he wasn't there for long and there was no assurance that he'd be able to send anyone else for quite awhile, I'd guess — I'd also guess that he later sent other missionaries who were better equipped to deal with the Maltans. . . no, not Leonard).
I love to hear God stories. Thanks for being His messenger.
What an awesome story, Ryan! My Mom used to do stuff like that: when I was a kid we use to shop at Cub Foods (now WinCo) all the time. There was almost always someone asking for change at that intersection between Newport Bay and Target and we passed them on the way to the store. She didn't want to give them money (she doesn't like supporting drinking or drugs) but we would buy them some food at the store – not a can of beans or something: more like a deli sandwitch, a small bag of chips, a 6-pack of soda, a bag of apples or carrots, and a candy bar or something sweet. It ended up being worth much more than the handfull of change we would have given from the car. We never gave any propaganda other than a quick "God bless!" when we passed over the feast.I love the fact that your table showed you there were Christians without saying anything about it. Isn't that the model that Christ and the Apostles asked us to live by? Anyone can say "I'm a Christian" but it takes a strong faith and love for God to communicate that by actions alone.
This happened to Rolo once in Portugal. Though it wasn't anonymous. This guy saw Rolo and the people he was with pray over their food, and it touched the guy so he paid for their food. He then came over and told them how he had never beleived in God, and then he got cancer and was on his death bed; until some people he knew beleived and prayed for him. he was completely healed and ever since has been a beleiver. He was touched by their prayer and felt compelled to bless them as prayer had blessed him. Very cool.
once, when Luke and I were flying home from seeing my family, and we were poor, Luke bought breakfast for two service men who were eating in the same airport resurante we were. He told the waiter not to tell them who it was, but that we appreciate their service and are proud of their work.Not god catch, just an admiration for the men who fight for our country. I love that day. That was one of the MANY days I was so proud to be a Deal. Luke rocks!HE would be SO RED right now if he knew I wrote this. HA! LOVE IT!
One Sunday in early December a few years ago, I was sitting alone in a sparsely populated Pizza Hut. A mom with four young kids came in and sat across the restaurant from me. I could hear little voices politely asking their mom if they could get their favorite kinds of pizza, and I could tell that they didn't go out to restaurants often–they were very excited about the whole deal. Looking a little closer, I noticed that the mom was wearing a sweatshirt when it was definitely warm-coat weather, and the kids' clothes, while clean, were clearly hand-me-downs.I hadn't planned to do any good deeds that day, I just wanted to eat my pizza and finish my Christmas shopping. But the kids were so sweet, and the mom was so gentle and loving with them, and I couldn't help but want to do something nice for them. I figured the $25 or $30 it would take to buy their lunch would leave the mom a little more money for their Christmas gifts, and I was blessed with enough disposable income that I certainly wouldn't miss it. So I arranged with the waitress to cover their bill and tip. I told her to just tell the family that I had been impressed with how well-behaved the kids were and how nice they were to each other. It was more than that, but I didn't want to embarrass them by making it seem like charity.I didn't stick around to see the mom's reaction. I didn't want to betray my identity and end up in the awkward position of her wanting to thank me. I don't think I've told anyone about that day, and I want it to stay anonymous, so even though I'm a regular blogger around here, I'm telling it anonymously. Recalling the incident makes me want to add more stories like that to my memory banks. Is it tacky to want to do nice things partly because it makes me feel good?
this is almost not related, but once when I was dirt poor and eatting wormy ramen, Andrea snuck over to my house and left an anon envelope with her tips for me under Alfred The Porch Gnome…. I liked that Andrea girl… she was good people….
That has totally happened to me before. When Ben and I were first married and I was pregnant with Emma we were given grocery bags full of food. I think my mom might have been the messenger. Even now I have no clue who it was from. It was crazy because it had some of our favorite things in it like Carnation Instant Breakfast. Who would think to but something like that? We were really blessed by it!
There have been times when the offering at Renovatus had Starbucks gift cards in it for Jess and I. It was pretty cool. I don't know who it was from, but it's probably better that way.
oh yeah, ry, those gift card were from me…i flew them in from oklahoma. your welcome.
p.s. that was a lie.p.p.s. eric and i ate at outback last night..we didnt see you, it may be because we live in oklahoma…or maybe you just werent working. but i ordered the outback special (8oz) with steamed vegis and salad with ranch. and sprite. it was deelish. i think it should be known that our waiter had so many flares (or pins as we call them in the real world) that he had a suit of armor. no fabric was left untouched. am-az-ing. but the real question is: how does he wash that shirt??
windex
Did you know it's "Random Acts of Kindness" week? Check it out at the link below:http://dir.yahoo.com/thespark/6457/random-acts-of-kindness-week
nope. but that's frickin' cool!