"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." This quote by John Steinbeck has so many applications, and one of the best is definitely in regards to Christianity. What I mean is this: the idea Christ had for His church, has not fully permeated its members. Although the church may have good intentions, these plans often go awry. How did I get on this topic? A had a conversation with a few of my co-workers at Pizza Hut.
Call it a social experiment if you want, I call it following Jesus through actions along with words. Now as I have said before, I am not a perfect person. I don't pretend like I am. I try to wear my flaws on my sleeve, but I do not use them as an excuse. I am certainly not writing this for a proverbial pat on the back, but rather as an external processing of thought. With all of that aside, I have been kind of subtly performing an experiment: would co-workers be able to tell if I was a Christian merely by my actions?
I began working at this restaurant without being on a "crusade." (You all know what I mean, there always that one person who has to "save" everyone and be in your face, even if you are already "saved" and yes I dislike having to deal with those people too.) My opinion on this matter is people are tired of the two faced Christians who get up all in your face wanting to evangelize you and they do nothing for you. I've had a few stories myself of self proclaiming Christians stiffing me on a tip or better yet devising a way to get there food for free. It sickens me and makes God's blood boil. As Christians we are called to be "salt and light" of the world, bring His good news through words AND ACTION. Jesus washed the (nasty, blistered, dust-covered, possible cow manured) feet of the disciples. They did not ask him to do it. It was the ultimate example of servant-leadership. He who was clean and without sin, personally puts his hands and your nasty dirty feet and makes them clean again. He touched the leper (if you don't know what a leper is than google image search, I'm sure you wouldn't want to touch them either) and made him whole.
So I go to work, don't tell anyone I am a Christian. As time goes on and they realize I don't cuss. I do not party. I do not drink. I do not smoke. I do not lose my temper (except when that supposed Christian stiffed me and got her food for free by lying to my manager). Every single employee (at different times) begin to ask me if I am a Christian. To which I reply yes. A few asked me what church I go to or if I go to the Christian college. One asked me if I would sell my soul to the devil for $150,000? 300,000? 1 million? I said no, nothing on this earth is worth your soul.
I am two months into my job. They trust me to count inventory, use the cash drawer, and even make large deposits of cash to the bank, all unsupervised. How did I do it? Did I hypnotize them? Did I drug them? No, I have been the best employee I could be. When I forgot a soda, I paid for it out of pocket instead of getting the store to reimburse me. I leave my phone in the car. For every moment I am on the clock I am productive in some way, never having to be asked to do something.
I think the make or break point was when this one ghetto woman took the pizza that was supposed to be for another order (and didn't say anything) and I came back to the store with the money for only from her one ticket. My manager informed me that I had been stiffed and asked me where the money was for the other ticket. When we realized what had happened he called the customer (who has now been waiting extraordinarily long) that his pizza had been stolen in the ghetto and that I (me) was going to bring him a new one shortly and free of charge. I felt so sick and upset (my face was literally pale and my stomach in a knot) that I had made such a stupid mistake, that when I got to his house, it really did look I was just jumped. The customer, bless his heart, insisted on paying in full and tipped me because he felt sorry for me. The next day, I gave my manger the money for the ticket. He was so surprised that I did not keep the money (not gonna lie I was tempted) but I told him I would not feel good until I did (which was true).
In the bible there is a passage that says when you can be trusted a little, you can then be trusted with a lot (Luke 16:10). I believe when I demonstrated my true character (even though it was hard because I could have used that money to pay for all of these exorbitant college textbooks) my manger and co-workers were able to see that I can be trusted. To people who have been barraged by untrustworthy two-faced Christians, my actions resonated with them so much more than if I went in every day telling them "praise God" and "Jesus loves you," and then proceeding to sit and text while everyone else runs around like crazy. Christians should be the ideal employees: we are not allowed to complain, we speak only kind words to others, we aren't afraid of getting our hands dirty and mopping the floors, we have a joyful spirit and we have patience for even the most difficult customers.
Two hours ago I asked one of the "non-Christian" employees if I was the meanest Christian he knows. I was expecting a snarky response, especially since he had previously told me that he does not like organized religion and hates delivering to my college because they never tip (broke as we are, we should still be generous). He paused from the dishes and looked me in the eye and said, "You are the most hard-core Christian I ever met. You are a hard worker. You do a good job and I like closing [the restaurant] with you, because you don't need to be told what to do: you just do it." He smiled real big and returned to the stacks of dishes. I replied, "Well, good! That means I'm doin' somthin' right!" This should be the way to evangelize in the workplace, using actions more than words, and may ALL of the glory go to God who delivered me from my old ways [insert: self-centered, prideful, superficial, sinful, dishonest, etc] and is making me mature/destined for my designed purpose.
No comments:
Post a Comment