christian b*

i waitressed tonight and while waiting on a difficult table who are regulars at the resturant another waitress commented that she felt for me. she refuses to wait on them. i can't say that i have flat refused to wait on them, but i have managed to avoid waiting on them or talk someone else into waiting on them. this family is so difficult that two things have happened at the resturant. the first is that there are few waitresses that will wait on them and secondly, our bosses will tip us when we wait on them. if you have ever waited on tables you know that to get to this point means it is a difficult table.

but as i encountered this family at subway and the kids seemingly latched on as i was kind to them, i have had the privilege to wait on them while their "regular" waitress (about the only one who will, having made it her life's missin to show them a little kindness) was gone on vacation, i have been convicted. shouldn't i be the one to show them a little kindness? shouldn't i who profess to follow the Christ be the one serving them? should they be merely something i avoid or push off onto someone else?

this family is in fact every waiter/waitresses nightmare. the children are under foot and they aren't small children. the youngest has behavior problems. the mother and grandmother (not young) are rude to one another. i have heard very few people speak so rudely and harshly to one another. they are demanding, impatient, petty, and rude to us. they are picky and seem to think you have no other tables and expect perfection. yet they also want to talk to you and visit. they all seemed starved for affectin and love; yet it's hard to offer when the old woman is crochety and short and when the child threatens to bite the mother and the mother threatens and does knock his head into the wall at your booth, and the child literally runs loose and says vulgar things at the counter.

so tonight when it came up i was waiting on them and how horrible that must be, i began to try to explain the "art" of being convicted by God i.e. that if i wanted to confess a certain set of values on sunday i had to hold true to them in the real world. i explained that Jesus said when you did it to the "least of these" you did it to him and i can't not do it. when i first started to say this, my friend said, "and don't you start with that christian bul*s***". she did not mean it nasty or mean; it was simply a statement of fact to her.

and it got me thinking. it is bs if you think about it. to treat others not as they treat us but as Christ would. to our thinking it is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, tit for tat, you get what you give, you reap what you sow. yet Jesus urged us, no commanded us, to love our enemies, do good to those who use us, show love to the unlovable, reach out to those society throws away. to man's wisdom such behavior is bs. but to the Christ it is the message that saves - no one is expendable in His Father's kingdom, all are welcome. it is the beauty of the gospel and bs to man's mind, but if applied, like the mud and spit to the blind man's eyes, it is healing to a world that hasn't seen the light for some time.