My God is into irony...

Thursday, July 3, 2008

I discovered the other day that not only does God have a sense of humour, but he's also into irony. I work in an industry where I get to meet all sorts of people from a variety of backgrounds, religions, upbringings, etc. There's a couple of regular customers who I must confess, everytime I see them walk in the door, I want to run the other way! This is a little story of how we need to be so careful as Christians in our attitudes towards other people.

So, this one particular customer of mine walks in the door. My first reaction is, mutter, mutter, under my breath. Every time they come in, it's for a fiddly job that takes about 15-20minutes and generally never pays more than a couple of dollars at a time. So, I do the job; with a frown on my face the whole time; thinking to myself, I wish I was somewhere else; and talking as abrubtly as possible, as if to say, I hope you get the message - I don't like you! After I finish and they have paid their meazly $3 for a 15minute job, they say this to me:

"Can I just ask you something? Are you a Christian?"

"Yes", I reply, thinking to myself, oh man I'm in trouble now!

Then the reply: "Yeah, well I sure can tell. This place has such a nice atmosphere about it and I always enjoy coming here!"

Well, I tell you, did I get the shock of my life! I was fully expecting a blasting about Christians and what's wrong with them, but was fully blown away by the reply. I felt so convicted for the next two days, that every time a customer who I didn't like dealing with came in, I purposely tried to be nice to them. Isn't it so ironic how we can completely think that we have stuffed a situation up and then God comes around and turns it into good. But He does it in such a way that we don't feel condemned, just convicted to try harder at being more like Him.

We are called to LOVE one another. That doesn't just apply to our best mates who we get along well with. That applies to our family members, the people who irritate us, the customers who drive us up the wall, the workmates who don't see things "my" way, and even, dare I say it, the people who we secretely would love to see put on a ship to the other side of the world so we never have to associate with them again!

So that's my bit of honesty for the week. Remember, we're Jesus' hands and his feet on this earth during our short lifetime so make the most of it! Love you all :)