Bro. John,
I’ve noticed lately what people kept saying in the meeting tonight: that people do notice how we live. You guys talk about how people notice how you interact as a group in public, and how your kids behave. (We very much noticed the kids when we first visited!) People also notice us as a couple out in public: how we talk to each other and how we talk to them. One woman was surprised at our age when she needed to see our IDs because in her experience at work, young couples in general aren’t as “decent” as we seemed to her, for lack of a better term. I’ve also noticed when dealing with company representatives on the phone lately that simply saying “Thanks, you’ve been very helpful” seems to really make a person’s day. The little things are a big deal!
The other day, we were buying groceries and the young cashier (probably a teenager) had a similar effect on me. He was very genuinely helpful and talking with us — not that formal, scripted kind of nice you typically get. I couldn’t help but wonder what was motivating him to act that way. It reminds me of the woman who saw me trying to fit my groceries on my bike one day in Houston when I had underestimated how much I’d bought. She loaded me, my bike and my groceries into her vehicle and, after a few moments, finally admitted why she’d done it. She said, “I want God to bless me!” 🙂 I think He did.
Beverly