True Hope and a Future

Another day, another amazing God-incident! Gotta love that!

Three weeks ago, we went out to dinner solely because we had a buy one, get one free coupon (and I’m never one to pass up on an opportunity not to cook!) I actually rounded up a second coupon when I learned our daughter and son-in law were able to join us. Before we ordered, God reminded me that we needed to ask the waiter if we could pray for him. We’ve been trying to get in the habit of asking the person waiting on us for prayer requests, but since we’re relatively new at this we still need these reminders from the Holy Spirit.

We're still a bit awkward with this, but what is five minutes of feeling stupid compared to someone's eternity? Jesus looked to God for words, "For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say." John 12:49-50 and He encourages us to do the same. "Do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." Matthew 10:19-20

We tell the waiter that we’ll be praying when our food arrives, and if there is any way we can pray for him he can let us know when he delivers our food. This way it gives him time to think, and if he’s not interested this gives him an out because he doesn’t need to say anything, just drop off the food. The majority of the time, if we do get any kind of response at all, we’ll hear a quick, “No, I’m good,” but this day our waiter began to share his story with us as soon as we asked. This began a dialogue that continued throughout the meal.

Since we weren’t far from home, before we left the restaurant we invited our waiter to visit our church. He didn’t take us up on the offer so we left him with the name and location of the church, our phone number and a generous tip, believing the latter gives credibility to the former.

Fast forward three weeks. My plan was to be home all day on Friday, but now that Bob has Fridays off, that didn’t end up being the case. What I thought would be an hour outing with him ended up being four hours, so when we found ourselves in the vicinity of this same restaurant at dinner time we decided to stop in. We looked for the waiter we’ve been praying for since our last visit, but he wasn’t there. Actually, we’ve never had a second encounter with any of the wait staff we’ve asked for prayer requests, but we figured there’s a first time for everything, especially with such a positive initial response.

So, we didn’t plan on being in the restaurant, yet there we were, and in walks our friend the waiter – on his day off! It “just so happened” that we were seated right next to the place where the staff picks up their checks. A coincidence? I think not!

Bob said, “Hi” and we chatted for a few minutes before the waiter asked where he knew us from. When we mentioned our previous visit his face lit up and he asked if he could pull up a chair. This began another conversation and another opportunity to invite him to Corinth. This time he said yes, though he wondered if he could make it to church and back on time since he was scheduled to work at 11:30. While we’re at second service 90% of the time, we jovially said that for him we would make an exception and go to first service. He didn’t have transportation, so we made arrangements to pick him up at 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning.

When the phone rang Sunday morning, I knew who it was before I even looked at the caller ID. Our waiter now had to be at work at 10:00 a.m. due to a shift change and was wondering if he could still come to church and make it back to work on time. Since I was expecting him to cancel, I happily assured him that with the service being just an hour long that shouldn’t be a problem. It would have been so easy for him to cancel, but he didn’t, and once we were at the service I knew why. God had tailor-made today’s message for this young man. Everything he mentioned on our first encounter was addressed. It was absolutely amazing.

I wish I could have heard what he had to say after the service, but because I had responsibilities after church Bob was the one to transport our friend back to the restaurant. He told me this young man talked all the way there. Unfortunately, Bob is not one for details, but it did sound like our friend had a positive experience. Here’s praying for next week!

Oh, and that coupon that brought us to the restaurant in the first place? It must've blown out of the van because we never did find it. I love how God works!