Friday, February 7, 2025 - One Tooth

     Over the last two years I have written some blogs that no one but me ever read.  Most of the time if there was something in the blogs that I thought might be construed differently than my intent, I usually either deleted it or didn’t post it.
     This one goes against that grain.  If you take it differently than my intent, it’ll just have to be that way.
     One of the principles that I live by is “don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”  That is one of the things that Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount.  I try to live that way personally and we try to do that as a church, with no one except the leaders who count the offering knowing what anyone gives, including me.
     But I got the nudge to share this with you.  I think I know why.
     I was on the way to Cynthiana on Wednesday after having lunch.  A large glass of water at lunch meant that a stop in Georgetown was necessary.
     I stopped at a fast-food restaurant.  I’ve always believed that it was unfair to use someone’s facilities without buying something, so I thought that I would top off lunch with a cup of ice cream.  I am sure that stuns most of you.
     The lady behind the counter rang up my ice cream.  It came to $1.06.  I reached in my pocket and felt no change, so I handed the lady two $1.00 bills.
     That’s when things out of the ordinary began.  This 50ish lady looks up at me (she was shorter than I am).  I can see only one lower tooth, the only tooth that I think she has.  
     She pushes one of the two $1.00 bills back towards me, reaches into her pocket, and she says to me, “I have some change.  I’ll pay the six cents.”
     I have shared several times in these blogs that I am not a very good receiver, but this was one that there was no way that I was going to be on the receiving end.
     I slid the dollar bill back to her and said, “Why don’t you just keep the dollar?”
     The look on her face was a look that I wish that I could express to you in words. 
     I smiled at her, took my cup of ice cream, and headed to Cynthiana.
     As is obvious by me writing a blog sometime later, the encounter with the one-toothed lady wasn’t over, at least in my heart.  As I neared Cynthiana I wished that I had done something differently, far more than one dollar that was on the counter.
     As I headed back home a few hours later, I stopped by to see if the lady was still at work.  I stopped again the next day at lunch, hoping the lady would be working.  Since then I have stopped a third time.
     As you could guess, I intended to give her something that was more than before.  
     Obviously, my concern about writing this blog is that I wouldn’t want to imply, nor anyone to think, that I was such a good person.
     Here is the “why” that I think I got the nudge to write this.  
     I have had a heart for the working poor for most of my adult life.  My dad came from a very poor family.   
     Lots of days I encounter, as do many of you, folks on their journey who have a more difficult financial journey than I do.  I am not the guy who gives to the homeless person standing with a sign on the street corner.   The nudge from the Lord would almost have to be audible.
     But what if I listened more to the Spirit to help someone working at Burger King like this lady?  It might bless my day, as well as their day.
     Though I started this on Friday, I finished it over the weekend, pondering some way to respond going forward. 
      I have decided to set aside an amount that I am going to use to bless some folks who are working in a service-related job, most likely a server in a restaurant or a clerk and bless them with something out of the ordinary, beyond a normal tip.
     Over the next few weeks I intend to do that 10 times, as the Holy Spirit nudges me.
     I invite you to consider doing the same thing.
     If you choose to do so and something special happens, I’d love to hear about it.
     The one-toothed little lady might just have a lasting effect.   Hopefully we can, too.