Building Bridges

What do you think of when you hear the word "Nation"? Do you think of a place you call home, a flag you proudly display on regular occasion holding those stars and stripes? Yea, me too. Or I did. So much so that I have a pretty awesome copy of the Declaration of Independence hanging on my living-room wall. True story.

And to put the icing on the cake, I proudly display the Pledge of Allegiance...

  
Remember, I did have those dreams of living in the White House one day. 

I want to share a story with you, something that made me realize I no longer view the word "nation" as what I always have before. Before I can do that I have to give you a little back story.

I briefly mentioned this class I am taking a little while ago. It is an in depth course on the purpose of missions. But it is SO much more than that. Through the first 5 weeks of the course, the instructors have laid the foundation of who God is, what His purpose was (is) in certain actions, and what His desires are for the entire world. They have done all of this by simply explaining scripture in the rawest way I've ever heard it.


To try, in my own words, and sum this up in one simple posting would be nearly impossible. But I can tell you a few key factors. First would be this: we are blessed so that we may bless others. Plain and simple. Abraham was blessed by God so that his descendents may receive that blessing and in turn, teach the gospel to others which would bless them with eternal life. And then there is this; when God says the word Nation as in "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19) He is not merely meaning political nation states such as America, France, China or the likes there of. No, He specifically means the people groups inside each of those political nations. This is proven within other scriptures when the Bible tells us "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14) We know the end has not come. So this can only mean the word nation does in fact mean "people group".


Ok, now that we are on the same page about what a nation is in the biblical understanding, I can continue on with my story...

I went to a local Chinese place for lunch Friday, one I've driven by a thousand times but never eaten. They were just opening up when I got there so I knew I would have to wait a few minutes. I looked over the menu, placed my order, paid, then took a step back to wait for the food. All while doing that, another customer came in. She had called her order in (why didn't I think of that?). She paid, then we stood there waiting together.

This place is set up where you can see everything in the kitchen, which would normally provide comfort to a person wanting to purchase food. After a moment the other customer looked at me and said "did you see her [meaning the woman working] wash her hands?" Honestly, I hadn't even thought of it, but when she brought it up I realized I didn't see her wash her hands. Starting to feel a little germ-a-foby, I watched as the other customer demanded a refund telling the worker how disgusting it was for her to not wash her hands before preparing our food. The woman behind the counter offered, in very broken English, to wash her hands and remake the food (even in this cross cultural barrier, I could sense the embarrassment). The customer refused, got her refund, then left in an obvious state of frustration. The worker had to explain to the other two people in the kitchen area what happened. They were speaking their native language, so I can't be sure of exactly what was said, but body language and tone have heavy influence.

I stood there, going over everything that just happened in my head. Over it and over it. As I'm watching these people try to regroup, I notice the woman go back to the sink to wash her hands several times as she begins preparing another dish. My heart began to sink deeper and deeper.

Don't get me wrong, I always hope what I'm eating from any restaurant is high quality, state of the art, perfectly cleaned, handled, and prepared food. But here, I all I could think of were these people and how that worker must be feeling. I started praying out loud (not loudly, just enough for the enemy to hear and know I was declaring it a place for The Lord) for the Holy Spirit to comfort these people, especially that woman. I immediately thought of these three workers as a nation, and one that statistically hasn't truly been shown who Christ is or what He did for them. In that moment, God allowed me to feel just a little of what He feels for these people. He opened my eyes to the longing He has for every person to know Him. There in the Chinese restaurant, I truly learned the difference in a nation state and a nation people group.

I watched as the recent situation took a tole on the woman. I saw her get frustrated. I knew God wanted her to feel adequate, to feel loved. I then noticed the tip jar. Now, I'm not one to skimp out on a tip, I actually tip over most of the time (years of working in the food industry here). But to excessively tip is not really my norm either. I opened my wallet to the cash department. I normally don't have cash, but this day I did. I saw the options, a one dollar bill and a twenty. My meal was only 8$, and that was because I added an egg roll (those little tasty treats are sure to be in heaven). I knew what I wanted to give, then I knew what God wanted me to give. 

I shut my wallet.

I stood there, still waiting on my food, knowing God had told me what to do. So I had a choice, do I bless this woman or disobey God? Hesitating for only a second, I folded up the 20 and waited. When the lady handed me the to-go order, she wouldn't even look me in the eye. I made sure to get her attention then placed the money in her hand. With a verbal thank you on my part and a big smile on hers, I was on my way. As I approached the door I heard her exclaim with joy to her co-workers. I got in the car and was immediately reminded by the Holy Spirit that we are blessed so we may be a blessing to others.

Once I got home and finished my lunch, I opened the fortune cookie. This is what it said "Our deeds determine us, just as we determine our deeds". Kind of fitting, I suppose.

You can call it paying it forward, or you can get super spiritual about it. Either way we are called to do more than average with what we are given; be it our money, our time, or our talents. I know many people have blessed me with all of those things over the years and my life has been heavily impacted because of their generosity. Will that 20$ truly keep me from being able to maintain my current lifestyle? Not at all. But what it did do is show someone a little kindness who probably needed it more in that moment than I even realized. It created a small bridge over a great culture barrier and allowed God the opportunity to love on one of His children.