3 Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established.
4 The Lord has made all for Himself, Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom.
5 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.
6 In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for iniquity; And by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil.
7 When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
8 Better is a little with righteousness, Than vast revenues without justice.
9 A man's heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.
In our walk with Christ, we can have a sense of expectation that He is with us, guiding us by His Spirit and intervening, even interrupting our lives for His glory. If we are devoted to seeing Him move in and around us, we can experience His wisdom and can be confident in His direction. We can be careful to interpret even everyday actions through the prism of God's faithfulness and know that He is with us and is fulfilling His purposes through us as we are willing to serve Him.
Our God is a giver - that's His nature; He gave His Son to die so we might live, and He enriches our lives by giving to us. James 1 states:
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
Ava Guan is a waitress at the HoShun Restaurant in New Orleans. One night, she received a very unusual tip - it was more than 10 times the amount of the bill - $777! The Christian Headlines website reported that:
According to The Christian Post, Guan had visited her church just before starting her night shift on June 4. While at the church, she prayed that God would send help to repair the church building and its A.C. system. Despite donating $300 out of her own pocket, it still wasn’t enough to cover the cost of repairs.
That’s when the tipper, later identified as 31-year-old businessman Abdul Hamideh, came into play. Hamideh left Guan a $777 tip on a $63 bill as well as a message encouraging her to “take the night off.”
“He gave me the big tips. I don’t know why. It’s so crazy. A surprise for me,” Guan said, adding that it was a blessing from God.
The man owns several restaurant franchises and was celebrating the opening of a new location, so he wanted to "pay it forward," according to the Christian Headlines article.
According to a picture posted at Fox8Live, the man wrote "Take the night off" on the back of the check. But, Ava had other plans. God-inspired plans. The television station's website notes:
Before Guan’s night shift on Saturday, June 4, she went to her church, Olive Church, off David Drive in Metairie. She said it is a small church in desperate need of repairs and new air conditioning. She prayed help would come soon.
She said those repairs come with a hefty price tag, and members of the church started to donate their own money, Guan included. She said she donated $300 out of her pocket to help, but it wasn’t enough to cover costs.
So she donated her large tip to the church.
But, that's not all - Christian Headlines relates:
As The Christian Post reported, after Hamideh heard that Guan had donated the tip money to her church, he vowed to make sure the air conditioning system was fully repaired.
Alex Yang, a leader of Olive Church, was thankful for Hamideh’s act of kindness and agreed with Guan that the tip was divine intervention.
“This is what they call God doing miracles,” Yang told NOLA.com in a statement. “We think God has sent this gentleman to tell her that Christ is here and in control.”
There are some wonderful points to consider here. First of all, you have a lady who demonstrated her love for Jesus and her church but taking a financial gift and not using it for herself, but donating it to the church. She saw the huge tip as a sign of God's provision. We can rely on God to give us wisdom on how to use the resources He has provided. I think of Jesus instructing Peter in Matthew 17 to go fishing - the first fish he caught would have a coin in its mouth - that was God's provision for the purpose of paying a tax. We can look to God as our provider and use what He has provided for His purpose.
But it didn't stop with Ava's tip - the tipper was moved by her kindness and went further by making sure the church's AC was "fully repaired." We can recognize the power of kindness can be contagious. Our willingness to show the love of Christ can move the hearts of those with whom we interact.
And, a further note: it was reported the man who gave the tip thought that 777 was a lucky number; Ava saw it as divine intervention. Sometimes we attribute occurrences around us to luck or coincidence, but for the child of God, we can be careful to give glory to God and recognize that it is His hand at work.
No comments:
Post a Comment