In their challenging new book, “Right Here, Right Now”. Alan Hirsch and Lance Ford confront us with being missional, being Christ, in our every day activities. We need to focus more on how we live our lives than simply trying to find ways to be missional.
The story below makes this point quite well.
Shortly after placing his order, the guy was leaning on the counter, grunting, groaning, weight shifting from foot to foot, and watching every move of the two workers with steely eyes and pursed lips, as if they were handling the delivery of his firstborn. After a few minutes he literally shouted at the two desperate workers, “1 would please like to have my food now so that I can get going!” With teary eyes and flushed cheeks, the lady working the counter maintained her composure and apologized for the delay, although it was obvious to everyone she was on the brink of a dam burst of tears and in the midst of an impossible situation. As this church-bound “saint” stomped out of the restaurant, the disgust of everyone else in the place was evident. Not a person said a word, but thought balloons were floating over everyone’s head: “Jerk!” “What an ass.” “Hypocrite.” “Typical Christian.” “Geeze—and the dude’s goin’ to church.” It was clear to everyone where this guy was in such a hurry to get to.
After Sunday School Sam departed, the place was silent and the atmosphere was thick with an undercurrent of sadness rippled with anger. I did the only thing I knew to do at the moment and that was to voice appreciation to the two workers for their great effort. “You guys are doing great, I don’t know how you’re doing it, but I think you deserve a raise. Hopefully that guy meets Jesus when he gets to church!” This broke the tension, and a few other people pitched in their agreement to the affirmation, and like a person underwater for too long and finally breaking the surface, the lady at the counter let our a sigh of relief and gave a thankful smile.
It was easy. I just seized the opportunity to live out the verse from Proverbs that I had been focusing on—”Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.” The atmosphere had instantly changed. I thought at any moment munchkins were going to jump out and start singing, “The witch is dead, the wicked, wicked witch is dead!”
I confess that there are times when my impatience got the better of me and I said words or spoke with such a tone of voice that I failed to reveal Christ in my actions.
My points of discussions:
1. Do you share my struggle?
2. Have you found an effective way to deal with this?
