Hannah’s Hope

Our local Boiling Springs Zaxby’s has the sweetest little elderly gentleman who walks around greeting the customers. He is the grandfather of the owner, and is respectfully called Papa Claude. Everyone who eats in our Zaxby’s knows him. Today Di and I were in there for a late lunch and he struck up a conversation with us as we were emptying our trays. He told us he is 81 years old and said, “The Lord has been so good to me. I can never repay him for all He’s done for me over the years. And I hope I can be a blessing to you and to all the customers. I just wanna give everybody Jesus and chicken!” We responded, “Amen! Jesus and chicken- what a combo!”

We walked out rejoicing over the testimony of that little man. Jesus and chicken – that’s all he has to offer people. That’s enough! Just yesterday I had a conversation with some friends that with my luck, the main entree in heaven will be fish. I don’t care for fish, but Jesus ate it often, blessed it often, referred to it often, so it will probably be the Chef’s Special every night. And that’s okay! But I imagine there’ll be some good ole chicken on the menu, too – and burgers and hotdogs and steaks and whatever we like. But Jesus and chicken – that’s my combo request!

We can apply Papa Claude’s daily mission to our own lives, no matter what we do for a living. Maybe you work on air conditioner units. Then your mission each day should be to give everybody Jesus & air! If you are a nurse, then your mission should be to give your patients a daily dose of Jesus & meds. If you’re a school teacher, then your mission should be to give your students Jesus & Math or English or History every day. If you’re a computer programmer, then your mission should be to give your customers Jesus & simplified code every day. Jesus & whatever makes the perfect combo.

I love this. Papa Claude had the sweetest disposition and the perfect smile when he said, “I just wanna give everybody Jesus and chicken!” Jesus & chicken – what a combo! (And I added a Coke Zero to my order – that really topped it off!)

“…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8b).

“I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22b).

Hope

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2013 at 10:05 pm and is filed under Hope's Devotionals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.