The following is an old post I did on an old blog. I needed some stuff to add to this one, and I thought this one was good, so I added it.
Early this morning, I along with the rest of the core group, handed out cups of free coffee to people going into stores to shop. There were lots of people (as can be imagined on 'Black Thursday') and most where I was stationed wanted the hot cups of coffee. We had a table set up at the front of the store draped by paper with our Journey logo on it. We were serving Starbucks' Christmas Blend. Many thanks to all the people who made this happen, it truly would not have been possible without them. A funny thing happened the entire time as I was there was people would ask if we were opening a new store (thinking we were with Starbucks.) We would then point to our logo and explain that we were a new church starting up in the area, and for them to check us out when we open. There was no verbal explaining of the gospel, there were no tracts of pamphlets given out. Just the name of our church and the fact that we were Christians. Many said thank you, occasionally a few commented on the fact that this was a nice thing to do, and several church-goers gave words of encouragement to us as they sipped on their coffee. We helped several people to their cars with their merchandise, which was a welcomed act of kindness as opposed to someone snatching them and running off with them. But this is what my mind was consumed with, that most of these people would have done just fine without our free coffee. Granted they would have had to dealt with the cold without the comfort of their cups. They would have had to put of their cravings of caffeine for a few hours until they could spair a second from their busy schedule of shopping to swing by Starbucks of Dunkin' Doughnuts. They could have possibly gone on with the day without ever thinking about how nice it would be to have a cup of Starbucks coffee to sip on as they shopped. But they didnt have to. They could enjoy their caffeine high and their shopping high together, at the same time. They could sip on something warm for their insides while the outside of their bodies stood shivering in the cold chill of the early, predawn morning. As I stood there at our table, I thought about what was going through these peoples minds. Some might have thought "What did these so-called 'Christians' do to that coffee, they must have put some hypnotic drug in it." Still others surely thought "Well thats nice of Sears to offer free coffee to us this year, thats an improvement from last year." Perhaps some said "Thats so nice and thoughtful of these people to come out and offer us free coffee while we shop, good for them" While others thought "Yea, a cup of coffee would be nice while I shop, that is so nice of these nice people." But my thoughts were'nt so much stuck on them. My mind was captive to those others who thought other ideas like "What compels these people to serve us free coffee?" Or "Why would anyone wake up at three in the morning to come and serve US coffee while we stand in lines for ourselves?" Or those who question "What would drive these people to serve us in such a normal everyday activity as shopping?" Those were the people I was thinking about. Those were the ones who I wondered what was going on in their heads. Jesus taught that when we serve even the weakest or smallest person, we are actully serving Him. We as Christians are called to share the Gospel. We are called to bring Heaven to Earth today. We are called to show the love of Christ. We are called to show life to its fullest. Did you catch the word in those last two sentences, show. We must show the Gospel with the everyday activities of our lives. One of my favorite quotes of all time (one which I rarely live up to) is from St. Francis of Assisi. He is quoted as saying "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words." We must live out the Gospel at all times, we must show it with our actions. We must live out the love of Christ. Christ wants to shine His love through us. And so as the night is winding down, I ask myself the question, "Did those people today see the love of Christ, did they see Christ in us?" So as I am getting ready for bed, I have now come to the answer of my question. Yes, yes they saw Christ.
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, what ever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Jesus in Matt. 25:40
"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Jesus in John 13:35.
"just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Jesus in Matt. 20:28
"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" Jesus in John 10:10
"Thank you guys so much, this is a really nice thing to do. Thanks." woman shopper who saw Christ' love.
