Two Sausage Biscuits

Two Sausage Biscuits
Tuesday, December 23, 2008

My normal morning routine consists of waking up and spending around ten or fifteen minutes in prayer before a shower.  This morning, I felt impressed to go ahead and get ready to go quickly and (oddly enough) go by Hardee's to get two sausage biscuits.  Hmm.  OK, Lord.

It took me a while to get ready and gather the trash, but I was soon off to Hardee's "on a mission from God" (you gotta love the Blues Brothers).  As I drove, I wondered, "Who is this for?  How am I going to know when and where I need to deliver these sausage biscuits?  I'm listening, Lord."  I felt impressed that I was to get two sausage biscuits plus whatever else I wanted.

When I arrived at the restaurant, I observed what appeared to be a 15 or 16 year old young black man serving another customer at the cash register.  When it was my turn to place my order, I asked for two sausage biscuits...plus a Frisco ham & egg sandwich and orange juice. 

As I told the cashier what I wanted, I realized it was not a young man but a young woman.  I had no major revelation from God about her.  There was no word of knowledge, so we just chatted while she prepared my order.  I noticed on the way in the door a sign that said "Santa's little helpers...Hardee's will be open Christmas Day." 

I asked her, "Are you working Christmas?"

"Yeah..." and she let out a little sigh.

"Bummer!"

"I guess so, but it's not that bad."

"Extra hours, huh?

"Exactly.  At least I'll get a little more money from it."

"Yeah, that's got to be about the only good thing.  Maybe you'll have some really nice customers."

"Hope so!"

"Hey, you know this whole Christmas thing is for you, don't you?"

"What?"

"It's for you.  Jesus came for YOU."

"Wow...I guess He did.  I've never heard anybody put it that way before, but now that you say that, you're right."

"You know God loves you?  And Jesus came for you.  If you didn't need Him, He wouldn't have come."

She slowly handed me my breakfast and my two sausage biscuits.

"Are you traveling somewhere?"  She must not have recognized me as a regular patron.

"No," I answered.  "I'm just heading in to work."

"Oh, OK.  Do you want any jelly for your biscuits?"

"No, thanks."

"Have a Merry Christmas," she said with what seemed like a little more thought than normally afforded for a Christmas greeting.

"Merry Christmas to you too," I responded.  She turned back to the cash register to serve the next customer.

Traditional methods of personal evangelism, from my perspective, usually aim to produce either acceptance of Jesus and a prayer of salvation or a rejection of Jesus at some point in the conversation.  I'm not sure how I would have done that in this situation, but I believe this cashier received at least a little reminder of God's love.  Maybe our conversation was like a gentle rain giving water to a growing seed, the eventual fruit from which will be salvation for this cashier.

My prayer is that the love of God expressed through me would warm this cashier's heart to the Gospel.  Maybe I'm not the one lined up to bring the harvest of this person into the Kingdom, but I hope my interaction readies her heart to receive salvation.