Jeff's Journal 2010 - 2018

Mustard Seed Faith

The time is 7:15 a.m.

I just delivered Chad to work at McDonalds.

Then I pulled up to order breakfast.

  It was a sausage biscuit and a Coke.

While I was waiting my turn, I noticed the

   car in front of me. Instead of getting antsy

   when I wait, I study things I see.

The car was a small black, Kia Rondo station

   wagon. (Sporty but practical.) There was one person inside.

   The voice placing the order sounded like a woman,

   maybe around 30 years old.

She ordered coffee with five creamers. (5) They

   didn't think they heard this right so she was

   asked to repeat the order. She is on her way to

   work and needs a little boost. I suspect she needs

   to be at work by 8 a.m.

The car was purchased at Car Town Kia in Lexington.

   That made me think, that somehow, her life was

   partially centered around Lexington. I am almost sure

   she has children. The back window of the car had a sticker

   which indicated involvement in Upward Basketball, which

   is a league run by the church to teach that winning and

   losing is not the whole point of competitive sports. At

   each game there are prayers and a short devotional talk

   at halftime. So, likely, she has a son or daughter between

   7 and 10 years old.

So, it is likely, she is a Christian or at least values the faith.

   At this point, it becomes a little game I play, filling in the

      details of a person's life from just a few clues.

She pulls around to the window to pay. I pull up and place

   my order. $2.53.

She pays and I pull up to the window, my money ready, and

   the clerk says, "The person ahead of you paid for you."

Now, I know that she is with people who value random

   acts of kindness or she surrounds herself with uplifting

   literature which offers this joyful way of living to its

   readers. We often don't think of such things on our own.

Likely, she knows the One who paid ahead for all of us. This may

   be her way of telling me this. She enjoys quietly and anonymously

   witnessing to her faith.

I pull up behind her and after she received her food, I waved

   a "thank you" and she waved back. That told me she valued

   the good feeling that comes with knowing the one she helped

   was touched by her thoughtfulness. She pulled out and headed

   toward Lexington, as I suspected she would.

What a great way to start the day!

Finally, her license plate read, "Pulaski County," which is my home county.

That alone kinda warmed my heart and brought back memories.

I wonder if her preacher suggested this from the pulpit on Sunday!

   Little did she know that her small, single act of kindness, might be

   shared with possibly a couple of hundred readers. Look how a mustard seed

   faith can blossom and grow, all for two dollars and fifty three cents.  

Moving to the deeper places,

Jeff

P.S. I was so captured by this kindness, I forgot to pay for the person after me.

Maybe I will do this tomorrow.