No Eggs

Philippians 4:11-13 “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

As far as I can remember, I’ve always had to have eggs for breakfast and if meat and potatoes were thrown in, I had what I considered a great breakfast.  I believe this is just a part of my German heritage.

A couple of days ago during a family trip we were staying at a hotel owned by my favorite chain.  I’ve been staying at this particular brand of hotels ever since I started traveling in business 15 years ago.  The reason I pick this particular chain is because…you guessed it…they serve eggs with their free breakfast.  But this past Tuesday morning there were no eggs and I was distraught and quickly told my wife I was heading out to find a place that had eggs and I would be back shortly.

It did not take me long to find a restaurant that served breakfast and as I was standing in line I noticed the gentleman in front of me asked for a cup of ice water and when the waitress asked if he needed to be seated he told her, “no I am homeless and all I want is a cup of ice water.”  He was given the ice water and he turned to head out the door and I looked at him and said “hey come with me, it looks as though you could use some breakfast.”  You would have thought I had just offered him a million dollars as his eyes lit up and he followed me to our booth.

Over my years of working with and helping others I have a couple of questions I always ask that helps me figure out what is going on in someone’s life pretty quickly, and one of the first questions I always ask is whether or not they believe in God.  When I asked my knew friend this question he proceeded to tell me he was not into organized religion but he believed in Jesus and his teachings.  Then I asked him why he was homeless and he proceeded to tell me that he had arrived at Fort Collins in hopes of having work to do and things didn’t work out as planned and he had run out of money, had no work and had spent the last 10 days sleeping behind and eating out of dumpsters while trying to find a way back home to Tampa.

He shared with me that he had stopped by at least a half dozen churches and each one of them told him they could not help him.  After hearing all of this I asked him if he was angry at God because the churches had not come through for him.  He looked at me and said “no” and then he saw I had my Bible with me (I was planning on doing my morning devotion while eating breakfast) and he asked me if he could look at it.

He quickly leafed through some pages and turned to the passage above in Philippians and read it to me.  He proceeded to tell me that if he was really walking the Christian walk it meant that he had to be content WHATEVER the circumstance.  He also said that he has been praying without ceasing and trusted that God would take care of him during this most difficult time.  But then he also said to me that he was getting dazed and confused because he kept running into dead ends but continued to believe “he could do everything through Jesus who gives him his strength.”  His knowledge of the Bible totally blew me away. 

This of course opened the door for me to talk openly about my faith and we talked for a good 45 minutes.  When the waitress came to give me the bill she told me the restaurant would pay for my friend’s portion of the bill and they also filled a box of food up for him…it was like he was just handed another million dollars.

As we were getting ready to leave he thanked me for taking the time to feed him and talk with him.  I told him that he had given me so much more than I had given him and I told him to jump in my car and I would take him to the bus station and get him a bus ticket to go home to Tampa…it was like he was just handed another million dollars.

My journal entry for Tuesday July 20th, 2010 has no scripture or personal reflection noted.  The only thing I wrote down for that day was my friend’s name and “No Eggs.”  I am so grateful my hotel did not have eggs that morning because it allowed me to have my faith strengthened and renewed by someone who had absolutely nothing but faith and a content heart.

How are you with your faith and contentment these days?  After my experience this past Tuesday morning I know I still have some work to do.

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@EagleLaunch.com

P.S.  After explaining to the family what had happened, when I arrived back to the hotel an hour later than promised, my father-in-law laughed and told me it had to have been a God thing because five minutes after I left the hotel they brought out a big pan of scrambled eggs. 🙂