discipleship

I’m Not Supposed to Have That!

/ tilson123 / Leave a comment

I have one of the most interesting jobs now that I am back in customer service, and it never ceases to surprise, touch, and amaze me – especially when God uses those encounters to remind me of His truths and His ways.  The other day was no exception.  I had a customer come in with a biscuit in her hand, and she said, “Is this pork??”  I asked her for the biscuit, and she said that she had just been through the drive thru, and had to know if it was PORK.  I turned the biscuit over in my hand, and it clearly stated “sausage” on the front of it.  I replied, “Yes ma’am, this is pork.”

“I CAN’T have that!” she immediately yelled back, “it’s too much on there!” So I asked her if she ordered a sausage biscuit, thinking maybe we gave her the wrong one.  “Yes, I ordered sausage.”  And I said, “And you got sausage??”  At this point my supervisor came over and I explained that the lady did indeed order a sausage biscuit, and received a sausage biscuit – at which point the lady yelled again, “I ordered that, but I CAN’T have that much!  I’m not even supposed to HAVE pork!”

After we gave the customer a chicken biscuit instead and sent her out the door, we all spent a lot of time trying to figure out WHY she had ordered a sausage biscuit if she wasn’t supposed to have pork.  And then I remembered her stating at first, “there’s too much on here”.  So the bottom line was that she was trying to CHEAT, and have sausage, but NOT get in trouble by having too much.  As if it was ok to cheat just a little.

As I was shaking my head and laughing at her, God spoke to me loud and clear…LOUD and clear.  He reminded me that we are just like that with His commandments and desires for our lives!  He says “no”, and we say ok – but then the next time an issue comes up, we are like, “well, maybe just a little bit”.  Or “maybe just this once – what could that hurt?”  We hope that we can get by with a little cheating.

And you know what?  Sometimes it seems we do!  Sometimes God lets us get the sausage biscuit (our way) to teach us better..and we find ourselves, just like my customer, with WAY more than we bargained for!  And unlike my customer, we can say “I’m not supposed to do that/have that!” but God doesn’t always let us give it back!  Sometimes He lets us experience just where our desires can take us, and we can be overwhelmed by the result.

So, next time you are tempted to sideswipe, detour, or cheat on what God has told you, remember – He may give you just what you think you want, and you may be surprised!

Plowed Under!

/ tilson123 / Leave a comment

Living here in the deep south of Georgia, we are blessed by being in the middle of farm country.  I hate the heat and the gnats of summer, but I LOVE the abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables available at roadside stands and the farmer’s market.  Having a pastor for a hubby is also nice, because some church members and other friends feel compelled to give from their own gardens….which is VERY nice!

The other day I had a good friend and ChickFilA customer bring me some fresh corn..as in, divine, just picked that morning corn!  It was fabulous, and I offered to even pay him for some more the next day, since he was going back to the field.  He told me there was no need to pay, because the farmer he was getting it from had overplanted and was glad to get rid of it.

The next day, he came in and said, “it’s too late.  He plowed the rest under last night”.  I could NOT believe it.  I was aware that sometimes that happened when crops failed, or drought hit, but NEVER with perfecty wonderful, delicious, healthy corn!  It was too expensive for him to pay his workers to pick it for the price he would get at the market.  I was so upset, because even in our county, our community, our church, there are people that I know that do not have enough to eat!  And here good fresh food had been WASTED – PLOWED UNDER – because of a farmer’s wrong perspective about what was in it for him.

I spent the rest of the day wondering how this could have happened, and what the truly hungry would have done for that food.  I wondered how the farmer could appear so callous.  And then God spoke…and what He said made me stop in my tracks, and repent.  Because you see, we have the best food of all – the Gospel and God’s Word and the story of salvation – and we hear it over and over, can see it on television, internet, books….we have an abundance!  And what do we mostly do?  We grow from what we “eat”, and share some with others, but the majority gets “plowed under” by our lack of willingness to “pay the price” to feed others!  Our country is experiencing all the effects of SPIRITUALLY starving people all around us..the most recent the SCOTUS decision about gay marriage…and yet we keep the knowledge we have to ourselves!  We sit Sunday after Sunday after Wednesday night receiving spiritual food, and we are NOT sharing!  We say it is easier to “plow it under” – to get enough for ourselves, and our fellow church members, but it is too costly to share.  And therefore we have the world we live in today.

I am preparing to quit feeding just myself and my friends and family.  I hope you will join me in taking the very precious food God has entrusted to us, and feed it to all those who need it most!