Amazing Grace Indeed!
Thank you to Peter Keast of the Amazing Grace Food Pantry for these kind words:
To our friends at Fellowship Church,
A funny and true story from my past. A few years back on a Wednesday, the one remaining clean dress shirt in my closet had a mark on it from an iron. I wore it anyway because the rest were in the laundry and my suit jacket just covered the mark. I walk my dogs before work, and the calmer of my two rather large dogs decided that morning that a deer crossing the road would be fun to chase. She pulled free and ran off. I let her go. I worked at a car dealership, and on that particular day I had driven a customer’s car home to see if I could replicate a problem so we could fix it. After drying off a wet Labrador who had just finished chasing a deer through the neighborhood, I got into the car, turned the key, and nothing. No noise, no click, nothing. I got a charger out of my garage, hooked up the car, and in about 15 minutes, it started. I left for work.
I was already 30 minutes late, so I decided to stop and treat myself to a $3 cup of coffee at Dunkin Donuts. Why is it that when you are in a hurry, the rest of the world isn’t? It was nearly 9:30 AM when I pulled into the drive through. There should not have been a line at that hour. There was a line, and for what seemed like a long time, it did not move. I was getting more and more agitated. Then a little voice in my head said, “Buy the person behind you a coffee this morning. You’ll feel better.”
“Hogwash! I want my coffee and I want this morning to be over,” I said aloud.
The voice persisted. “Buy the person in the car behind you a coffee this morning. You’ll feel better.”
“Please… go… away.” I said aloud. By then, I was sure that anyone within earshot knew that I was a proper nut job. I moved one car-length further forward. Then I looked in the mirror. The car behind me was an old Dodge Neon, one of the least proud accomplishments of the Chrysler Corporation. It didn’t appear to be running well. The driver looked stressed, apparently as late for work as I was. I wondered if, unlike mine, her job might be in jeopardy. At 9:45, I finally got to the window to pick up my coffee.
“Excuse me,” I asked. “How much is the bill for the car behind me?”
“$4.65” the window attendant said.
“Put it on my tab, would you?” I asked.
“I can’t do that, sir,” the attendant said.
Now I was getting angry all over again. “And why would that be?” I asked firmly.
“Because you have no bill sir. The person in line in front of you paid it. Would you still like to cover the $4.65?”
There are so many different lessons I was taught that day. By some measure a successful businessperson back then, I was well caught up in performance reports, market share and financial statement analysis. Small things also easily annoyed me; my dog having a bit of fun chasing a deer, my 10 year old daughter, unbeknownst to me trying to iron a dress shirt for me, and even discovering why the customer’s car would not start. There was good in all of that which I was not prepared to see. It took being stuck in a drive through with absolutely no way to escape to get my attention. Even then, I resisted.
I left a $50 bill with the drive-through attendant that day, the only bill I had, instructing them not to allow anyone to pay until it was gone. I still do that sometimes. It is fun to think about what others are thinking when they drive up. The little voice was right. I did feel instantly better, and I think everyone in the line behind me felt a little better too. Maybe they spread some kindness as a result. Personally, I had to stop being so self-centered.
Each one of you who donated to Fellowship’s most recent food drive, one in which just over 1600 pounds of food was collected, should think about the family that took home some Prego Spaghetti sauce, some pasta, some peanut butter, some mac n cheese and other meal ingredients that you bought for them last week. They are sitting down to a meal that you have provided, saying Grace, asking God to bless you for nourishing their family.
Don’t get so caught up in life that you don’t take full measure of the good you are doing. I have the good fortune of seeing the faces of the children, parents and grandparents that you help through life with your generosity. Like the coffee attendant in the window, I get to see the happiness, the surprise and the gratitude. Thank you for listening to your own, quiet voice, and know that all of the recipients of your kindness are grateful for you. You are making a difference.