Give It Away

Today I paid for the people behind me in the drive-thru lane at CookOut. I don't say this to brag but on the way home from work/CookOut I heard a lot from the Lord.

My church is on this theme of "Give it Away," which I totally heart because giving and serving just causes rejoicing in my spirit. I am so proud to be a member of my church and so proud of them for doing this series and for focusing on true service. Not the kind of service that crams Jesus down people's throats, but the kind that just loves on people like the family God intended for us to be. Which leads back into my CookOut Drive Thru give-it-away.

So I've heard of people doing this paying anonymously for the folks behind them in the drive thru lane, like on the radio they talked about it and I have heard it various other places, but a major shift occurs when you do it yourself. So I'm sitting in line after ordering my milkshake, not even thinking about anything except getting home to relax and my gaze suddenly focuses on the car behind me. Then my spirit starts to move to pay for them and immediately, lies come upon me: "they don't need you to pay for them - if they couldn't afford it, they wouldn't be here," "people will think you are weird," and then the ultimate trickery ensued: I began to think about the purpose of paying for them. Would they know it was a Christian act? Did they see my "COTR" (church) bumper sticker? Was I representing/advertising the church?

Even looking at those questions I had going through my mind an hour ago, I am laughing. When I got to the front of the line, I paid for the car behind me. Did it matter if they could afford it or if people thought I was weird? Did it REALLY matter if they could see my bumper sticker?! Seriously, self! As I drove away quickly, not even glancing back, I realized the point of the exercise: the five words that changed my life and fate and everyone else's who accepts the eternal gift were being repeated now to the family in the red minivan. "It's been taken care of." Your bill has been paid. You are free!! It gave me chills to think about the parallels and how if I had listened to my devil-inspired doubts those folks may have never heard those words!! I have no way of knowing, but I smiled to consider the possibilities I could have helped create in their lives that God could work with. I will definitely be doing this more often.

Further down the road, I considered unrequited love. I teach seventh graders for a living and their lives are rampant with stories of unrequited "love." I thought about how primed they are in that regard to understand how God feels about us. He has taken our debt and wiped it away! And he has made sacrifices only Abraham and Hosea could begin to understand - yet his love is essentially unrequited, even by those of us who claim to try. It's amazing how much teenagers could relate to their Father if they understood!