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Monday, November 30, 2015

Thanksgiving


Thanksgiving day I gave away 2 $20 bills. I am telling you this to make a point. 
The first one was afternoon Thanksgiving, when Bill and I went out to eat. 
We are on the road, far away from home, away from our loved ones, and it was Thanksgiving. We had been given a gift card for Cracker Barrel and they were open and serving turkey dinner. So that is where we went.
We waited until 2pm thinking it would be less busy. But when we got there, we noticed the line was out the door. 
We went inside to give our name and prepared to wait. However, we were seated right away. The tables for two were readily available.
Our waitress came. Her name was Linda. She took our order for the turkey dinner and brought our coffee. She was rushing around from table to table. I told her not to rush for us that we weren't in any hurry. I asked her what time she had come to work and she told me 1 o'clock. Then we talked about her getting off work at 5pm to go shopping with her daughter. 
Many of the stores were opening for huge sales that evening.
I then asked if she was shopping for anything in particular and she named a few things. Then she told me that she really wanted to get to Sears. They had women's boots on sale for $20 and she really wanted a pair.
We enjoyed our meal that included, turkey and ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, stuffing, 2 corn muffins, pie and coffee, all on special for $11.99.

Our bill was brought to us when we were nearly finished. As I said we had a gift card. It was for $25, our Bill total was $25.60. 
It was a very nice meal.
Our waitress passed as we were leaving and I handed her a $20 bill. I told her to buy herself a pair of boots on us. She hugged me and thanked us.
It felt great. God has truly blessed us and we wanted to bless someone else.
Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7 NASB)
Later, we did some shopping of our own, walked 3 miles for exercise then relaxed the evening away. 
During the night I awoke. I was restless and couldn't fall back to sleep for some reason. So I got up and quietly made myself a cup of tea. I sat in the driver's seat and sipped my tea as I read a book on my Kindle. It was 4:30am.
I saw a police officer drive a circle around the rest area and then leave.
Someone knocked on my door. There was a man standing outside. I lowered the window. He told me a story of locking his keys in his car. He called the police who came to help but wanted his car towed, a locksmith called, or a breakage of a window to get into the car. He went on to tell me that he only had $22 on him which he showed me. He told me the tow truck driver wanted $140, the locksmith wanted $40 and he didn't want to break his own window. He asked if I could spare him the $18 he still needed to pay the locksmith. 
So, I gave him a $20 bill. He promised that once inside his car, he would drive up to the next exit to an atm, get some cash and come back to pay me back.
Now I know that he was probably feeding me a line of untruth, but I also reasoned that maybe God had woken me up to help this man regardless.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2 NASB)
Of course that man never returned. 
The wicked borrows and does not pay back, But the righteous is gracious and gives. (Psalms 37:21 NASB)
No ones likes to be taken advantage of. Way too often human beings will prey on the generosity of others. 
I knew when I handed that man that $20 that I would never see him again. And I believe that he knew in his heart that he was never going to return. God will deal with him. And God also will bless me. 


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