Kristina and I had dinner with one of our young friends last night, a young man named Peter who we know from Revolution Church. We went to dinner at the Longhorn Steak Burger on Harrison and 22nd, great food and reasonably priced. Peter normally rides a motorcycle, but since it was raining last night I went to pick him up and bring him to the restaurant. It’s the first time we’ve ever spent time talking to him at length that wasn’t after a church service, and it was very nice dinner conversation. Peter tends to get loud when he gets excited, and be very passionate about what he believes in: no different that any other young man his age, yet last night he was very calm and focused.
As we were looking over the menu, Peter had said something about buying his dinner to which Kristina and I told him we would like to pay for his meal. Kristina explained that when she was a young lady, her older friends would pay for meals and just asked that she do the same in the future for somebody else. Peter seemed OK with the concept and the discussion of money at our table was finished, or so we all thought.
It became apparent that God had not put his .02 cents into the conversation.
Kristina and I had decided to get the “dinner for two” and Peter ordered the full rack of ribs. As we sat talking, a lady none of us had ever met before approached my wife and said “this is going to sound weird”. She said “I was told to give you this money. I don’t know why or for what purpose, but you need to take it.” I was speechless, but had to force myself to remain so. I wanted to speak up and share the outreach we do, but I was ‘moved’ to just sit back and watch the exchange: it wasn’t intended to be my conversation. Peter was paying close attention to the exchange and started to motion like he was going to engage the lady until I motioned for him to hold on.
Kristina explained that the “donation” would go to feeding the homeless on Sunday morning, it is what we do money that finds it’s way to us. The lady looked at Kristina and countered “I’m not sure that’s what this money is for.” She then said something that indicated that we needed to use this gift as a blessing for us. She did tell us that God wanted us to have it, and at that point I allowed myself to relax and just let this woman minister to my wife.
After few minutes, our table exchanged “Thank you” and “Good Night” with the woman and her husband. Kristina handed me a $50.00 bill and I put it in my pocket. We all discussed the event for a while, how none of us had ever experienced anything like that before. Our food arrived and we continued the evening with conversations about music, friends and life in Tucson.
The our server brought our check to the table, I have to admit I was a bit taken back to see the total was $50.15. Again, we all marveled at the blessing that we were able to witness that evening. I had to wonder what God was telling us, and if it was even the same message for each of us at that table. I am still processing and praying about what happened, at the very least I am convinced that God doesn’t always need to show up only when we need Him. It’s almost as if He ‘dropped’ by our table to bless our time with Peter or to remind me Who really picks up the bill. Praise Jesus.
It was a wonderful and very unexpected evening, one that provided a story worth sharing. We serve an awesome God who reminds us He is there in extraordinary ways in our everyday ordinary lives.
In Christ,
Wayne
Jon Thomas
December 5, 2011
Praise God