GreatRidge Station

Honestly, I was amazed. My Proverbs 31 wife and I were on our way out, and we decided to stop and get some fast food from the best fast food outlet in the country. We went through the line at this particular Chipotle, told the folks behind the counter what we wanted, and–well–we just ordered our food the way we always do.

When we got to the end of the counter, we paid up and the woman behind the counter said, “I have to say you get the award as our most polite customers. No one ever says ‘thank you’ to us here, but you did.”

My wife (the social one) always seems to know the right thing to say, which she did. I did my usual
standing-there-with-a-dumb-look-on-my-face-because-I-don’t-know-what-to-say. I really was amazed.

It costs nothing to extend common courtesy to people. A simple please, thank you, and even a you’re welcome take precious little effort, and serves as an excellent way of giving respect and honor to the people who are serving you.

In this world, it is a great privilege to be served, and we must not take that for granted. When someone serves us, even in a fast-food joint, we need to honor them for the honor they have done for us:

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4, ESV).

Ingratitude is a terrible sin in our society. We need to be the leaders and model the kind of behavior, respect, and honor that is due to others around us. Maybe, if we do it right, we will lift people up rather than holding them down: And that is what leadership is all about.

On reading Derek Melleby’s paper on Choosing a Major in college, it struck me that calling, direction, and that panicky sense of now what? are important pieces of our growth as human beings. I’m beginning to develop a little skepticism about one’s ability to identify his or her calling in life. In my experience, both personal and observed, calling unfolds– its revelation gradual rather than sudden; a gradual dawning rather than a sudden epiphany.

Where I am right now is a result of both dumb luck and divine blessing–and mostly the latter. I’m just thankful that I had the sense to get out of God’s way when he was up to something.

My word of wisdom to people who are trying to find the next step in their lives:

First and foremost, turn back to God and strengthen your relationship with him. The only way we will become more and more like Jesus is to spend more and more time with him. This is the essential of life. I’m stunned at the number of times that God has dropped opportunities right into my lap, not as rewards or out of obligation (In the words of Steve Taylor, “You don’t owe me nothin’”), but undeserved moments of delight. Following him more closely tuned my heart to be able to notice those moments of blessing.

As Os Guinness pointed out, it’s more important to follow the caller than the call. That’s a paraphrase, he said it better, and with more words.

I have an interesting, multi-faceted career, and I have three to four employers, depending on the time of the year. I was in one of my offices today, where I serve as director, and I received an interesting piece of mail.

Please remove Ardyce X from your mailing list. She passed away in November, 1989.

This demonstrates two important truths for leaders to remember:

• Data is not always accurate, so check it once in a while.
• We’ll be dead far longer than we will be alive.

I suppose I owe some apology to this person’s family. At some point, they had to wonder if we were ever going to catch on. In fact, no, we’re not–at least not unless someone tells us.