One of my hubby’s favorite things to make fun of on infomercials is the infamous line, “But wait!  There’s more!” wherein they offer you an incredible, onetime only deal, that usually doubles the offer they were making originally, except the 2nd offer is free.  Of course, there is that little thing about paying separate shipping and handling, but it is free…..And if you are so gullible as to fall for the “free” offer, you are in for a shock.  It’s all a sham, and you realize you’ve just been had when you can go to Walmart and find the same item for half the price with no shipping and handling.

To some, Easter is that way.  It’s about a fake bunny bringing loads of candy to good children, and eggs being decorated, hidden and eaten for no real purpose other than fun.  If there is any mention of faith, it is in the broadest “all religions celebrate the same” theme that is part of the enemy’s plan to deceive as many people as possible. The best part, the REAL part, about the death, burial, and resurrection of a Savior, is totally absent or written off as fable.

For me, Easter is one of my favorite times of the year.  I love the remembering and the celebrating of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and joining my church family in praise and worship. I also take time to remember how the Lord saved me at age eight, and to thank Him for giving me the gift of salvation so early in my life. However, there has always been a sad side to Easter, and that is this – there are still SO many more people who need to hear about Jesus and trust Him.  And up until a few days ago, I knew and had prayed for one of them for over 25 years, with no results that I knew of.

AND YET!!  God,in His perfect timing, led my loved one to Himself since I last spoke with him,and now this amazing person in my life knows Jesus!!  I have loved and prayed for this person since I met him…and I have watched him spend his life away from God in pursuit of his own life and agenda.  He is an amazing man – a good man – a man who gives to charity, helps others, and treats his wife like a queen.  And he was always very respectful of mine and Robert’s beliefs, and said he admired our faithfulness to them.  But he did NOT see a need in his life for the same.  And now….NOW!….I can celebrate Easter with more joy in my heart than ever before!  I am thrilled beyond words that my very special guy will now spend eternity with Jesus and me!

Because you see, Easter is NOT a fake “but wait, there’s more!”  proposition.  The reason for Easter – God – is real, alive, and full of promise and hope for everyone who believes in Him.  He is the creator of this universe, yet He is also the one who loves all mankind to the point that He was willing to send His Son, Jesus, to live, die, and rise again to provide the only perfect sacrifice for our sins.  That provision has given us eternal life with Him, and that is an offer that no one should refuse.

And it was this thought that brought me to tears Sunday.  Overflowing, happy, and joyful tears at the knowledge that my loved one now has everything that we sang about that morning!  Amazing grace, peace, love, a home with Jesus, life full and free….all of it!  I no longer have to pray for him with longing and concern for Him to know Jesus.  My prayers are now full of praise, and hope, and excitement about his new life.  He  is a new creation, a child of the Lord, and there is nothing more now than to serve the Lord with the rest of his life!

Isn’t God awesome?  Amazing?  Faithful?  Are there really enough words to fully describe Him?  NO.  And yet, this Easter Sunday, I will find myself trying anew to express my gratitude for His grace…and for saving my loved one.  AND then I will renew my efforts to be all that I can be for God, so that I can continue to see more and more come to know Him.  After all….just wait, there IS more, and it’s all free, no strings attached! May God receive all the glory for the marvelous things HE has done!

It all started with a burned pan of biscuits during the morning rush. We were keeping pace with orders, customers were smiling, the line was moving, and then, WHAM.  Suddenly we were in nowhere land, because of one pan of ruined biscuits, and we were told it would be eight minutes before we had any more.  I NEVER knew how long eight minutes could be!!  We had to ask customers to have their biscuits put on buns, or bagels, or order something else that didn’t require a biscuit..leading to re-orders, confusion, and frustration for those customers who chose to settle for only what we could offer.

Some customers, however, decided to wait it out, and sat in tree shaded parking spors and had nice hot fresh food delivered to them that was exactly what they wanted.  And they drove away very happy.  Now of course, there are those who cannot wait..bosses don’t understand being late because your restaurant was behind…but many who chose an alternative just simply were too impatient to wait.  And believe me when I say I was most impatient to get those fresh biscuits too!  I hate having to disappoint people.

God reminded me right then of one of my major spiritual weaknesses that I have been trying to improve for many years:  my impatience when waiting on Him!  I am always eager to go to Him with problems, obstacles, requests for loved ones.  I love “yes” answers, and I have learned to live with the “no” answers.  But the “not now” ones???  Sometimes I’d rather have a root canal than to hear that from the Lord!  And so I find myself fussing, complaining and feeling very inconvenienced when it happens.  I am a very unhappy “customer” if I have to “park” my plans and wait on Him. I have been known, also, to take a “bun” or “bagel” from either the world’s solutions or my own resources, rather than wait.

AND YET!  God has a very nice “parking spot” (His will) where I can comfortably wait in a nice shady area (His love and grace) and then wait for “fresh delicious” answers, that are EXACTLY what I really want and need!  And they are hand delivered to me, WHEN I wait, by a loving, generous God who prepared them just for me!

So!  The nexr time I am in a potential “not now” situation, I am praying that God will give me the wisdom to recognize the value of waiting, and the strength to persevere in it!  That way I am satisfied, He is glorified, and I am able to grow in my love and wonder of Him!

At our ChickFilA, we have 4 big coffee urns..3 for regular coffee, and 1 for decaf.  They are very ordinary, black on black design, with a coffee gauge and timer on the ordinary plastic top.  They get used over and over, day in and day out, and no one pays a whole lot of attention to them.  We use 3 at front counter, and a regular one at drive thru.  This saves a lot of steps and time for the drive thru workers (me!) during morning rush.

However!  The other morning when I was getting the front of the store up and running for the day, I took one urn out of the coffee maker and placed it on the counter to fix decaf in another.  And of course moments later my elbow caught it and knocked it to the floor!  The sad coffee urn that I picked up had a cracked face, and when I tried it the gauge didn’t work anymore.  So we had to put it away till repairs were made.  No big deal, right??

Wrong!  That first morning I took one of the 2 front regular coffee urns to drive thru.  Unfortunately, the front kept running out of coffee, so they took it back!  That meant that every time drive thru needed coffee, someone had to walk to get it, slowing us down..so we took the urn back!  And so it went, fighting over urns every day until the other one got repaired and order was restored.

So what’s the point? Just this…some days I feel just like that black coffee urn, and I am not alone!  It’s so easy to feel ordinary and/or unappreciated.  We feel used and reused over and over again, being constantly drained by those just seeking satisfaction for themselves (the urn) and it’s hard to see ourselves as being special or unique (black on black) in our daily lives.  We can even get into the rut of thinking that we’re not needed (being 1 of 4).  

And yet!  Remember what happened when I broke one?  It was hard!  It was inconvenient!  And it caused a slow down in service and customer satisfaction. It was also immediately repaired, because it’s absence was such a hardship!  Which is absolutely true for each of us, even if we don’t always believe it.  God uniquely designs every one of us at conception, and has a role for us that no one else can do.

And yet.  We get beaten up every day by the world, our jobs, etc and we forget our specialness and our worth.  I see this every day at my window whenever I compliment a customer’s clothes, hair, or accessories (yes, even men!)  This look comes over their faces like “wow..me?  Really?” and they look amazed that they received a compliment. I waited on a man just today who is a systems analyst and I told him that was great.  He said that he really only sat in front of a desk all day, but I told him I was impressed with his smarts!  He looked much happier when he left, and all because he was reminded of his worth!

So…the next time you feel unappreciated, remember our coffee urns…and even if no one else tells you, remind yourself that you are making a difference.  It will carry you through a rough day anytime!