God works in mysterious ways

I finally got to go to church again this morning. I went to Gateway again, which was the last church I went to (September 19th) before I started waitressing. I could tell that I really needed to go, I've been going almost every Sunday of my entire life... to miss 3 weeks in a row has really taken a toll on me.
The last time I was at Gateway it wasn't their regular pastor speaking, it was their old pastor. This time it wasn't their regular pastor either, he was the "Spiritual Pastor"... I don't know what that entails... maybe Spiritual Counseling?
Anyway, they are doing a series called the "Soul Revolution" and it is based on the book by John Burke. They challenged everyone to take part and are giving away the book for free. (I'll get back to this later)

Today the pastor started out talking about the Facebook craze and how he couldn't believe how much he was interested in his friends' "status updates" or the "what are you doing right now?" that you can put on your Facebook page. He read off some of them from his friends, including a friend named Thad who always puts funny things (I should've written one of them down) and he calls them "Thadisms". Anyway, he said that it was comforting to know that he wasn't "the only one filled with a life of little things." I really liked that statement, because it is so true... going to the grocery store, to work, to the Pumpkin Patch, catching up on email... etc.

So that was just about the Facebook portion. Then he moved on to the fact that we can not love God without loving other people (I John 4:20) and we can't serve God without serving other people (Matt. 25:40). That this means even that person at work who you can't stand or the person at school... or wherever. This really hit home to me because there are a couple servers at my work that really grind on my patience, and I am pretty sure they aren't Christians just by their behavior and the way they treat others. So the pastor was supposed to speak on this stuff but then said when he was preparing his lesson he changed his mind. So he spoke on the boy who had the 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. He said that he wondered if the little boy heard Jesus and the Disciples talking and said to himself "Um, no, this is mine! I thought to bring my lunch, why didn't they?" or was he thinking "I would love to share my lunch and make a difference" Maybe this is the little boy Jesus was talking about when He said "That unless you have the Faith of a child, you will not enter into the kingdom of Heaven."

So the pastor said that the boy had a choice.... he could say "My bread, my fish, mine" OR "My bread, my fish, my opportunity to make a difference" Which translates today into us saying... "My time, my strength, mine" OR "My time, my strength, my chance." My chance to help a friend in need, my chance to be an example of Jesus at work, my chance to show love to my neighbors, my chance to do an anonymous kind deed.... etc.

I was so convicted because of the way I just fall into the trap most of the time of just being rude right back to these servers who are rude to me, instead of just ignoring them or being nice in return. One of them yesterday at work decided to transfer a table to me so that he could go on break (because we were all doubles) and he had already done a Tableside Guacamole (alot of work) and gotten drinks, but the ladies were just chatting and drinking and waiting to order. So I took them over. I took their order, served their food and got them another round of drinks. When they tipped me I decided to give him part of it. When I handed it to him, he was very surprised. He said, "Wow, thanks, that's very generous of you!". I didn't have to do that, but it was my way of being nice in a very negative work atmosphere. About half the people I work with are team players, and the other half are just there for themselves.

Another work story... this past Thursday was Boss' Day, so I got cards for all the managers and just put a little note in there thanking them for their help and guidance. They have truly been in the trenches with us during this opening of the restaurant. So yesterday I asked one of the managers if he had gotten his card... (he had also just gotten married a few weeks ago and I had given him a card then as well)... so he said yes, thank you... then he looked at me and said, "Are you really that nice?" and I said, "Yes, I should own stock in Hallmark"... and he replied, "Wow, you just don't meet that many nice people these days." I told him I was raised right! But how sad that he doesn't think there are that many nice people. I'm glad that even though it seems that I get sucked into the negativity of the atmosphere, that I am also stepping up and showing the nice side. Please pray that I will shine in the midst of the darkness.

Okay, so now to the reason God works in mysterious ways.... besides the whole "love hard to like people at work" part of the sermon... I told you they are doing this Soul Revolution thing. Part of it is that you are supposed to have your watch or something beep once an hour to remind you to pray, or just to be a Godly person. A couple weeks ago, I touched something on my watch and it has been beeping on the hour. It was kind of annoying, because I didn't know how I did it, and I couldn't figure out how to stop it. When the pastor said that part, I was like, "okay, God, apparantly you want me to do this study." I was a little aprehensive, because I am still church shopping and I'm not sure that I want to make this my home church, especially since I haven't even heard the regular pastor preach. But, I went to the lobby after the service and told the person at the table that I had just moved here and that I was still church shopping. He told me that the only thing I had to do was find two other people that would be willing to go through the book with me if I didn't get to complete it with this church. So... if you want to join me, the book is titled "Soul Revolution" and the author is John Burke. The subtitle is "How imperfect people become all God intended". So, let me know, I'll be starting the book tonight.

Please pray for me as I go through this book because you know that Satan will be trying even harder to make me conform to the negativity at work. Also continue to pray for energy as I work 3 jobs.

I will try and post pictures from the Pumpkin Patch last Sunday later on this week... we had so much fun! Love and miss you all!