Before today my only exposure to someone using this Afrikaans phrase was typically during Bible Study prayers to God. I guess, now that I think about it, we don’t really say “thank you” that much in America anymore (or maybe I’m just not very thankful?!).

But today was different because God wanted to teach me something about being thankful.

I was about to enter this great checkout line at Pick-n-Pay, a local grocery store, but I freaked out because for some reason I randomly thought the clerk wouldn’t be able to speak or understand English. So I got out of what was the shortest-checkout-line-ever and then walked around for a little while until I found another suitable line. During that brief “walking around” period I realized that there’s really not even any dialog that has to take place between myself and the cashier so it would actually be reasonably safe to enter any line at this point.

(I suddenly feel like this is a confession of insanity blog…)

I ended up in a checkout behind a rather short elderly woman with a regular sized cart. She was slowly but steadily unloading her things from the tallest and closest within reach to the smaller, lower lying items on the bottom of the cart. I noticed that she was already struggling with the medium height items so I decided ahead of time to intervene and help her with the last few products that I knew she wouldn’t be able to easily reach. As I reached my hand into her cart for the remaining products her first reaction was mild confusion but once I handed them to her I think she realized I was just trying to help her out a bit. She promptly said, “Buy ah Donkey” (Obviously that’s not how it’s correctly spelled in Afrikaans but I’m just going with English phonetics until I figure out the right way to spell it). I just smiled and nodded to her since I had no idea how to reply in Afrikaans.

So that’s all it was. I didn’t go out of my way to perform any amazing, self-sacrificing feat. I’m no hero. I just helped grabs some stuff out of a cart for a lady.

As the elderly woman proceeded to check out she had a small conversation with the cashier in Afrikaans. Once she had paid the final total she turned to me again and (this time in English) said, “Thank you very much young man ,” and I replied with a simple “You’re welcome.” After the woman walked away, the cashier began to total up my groceries. But then she said something that caught me off guard, “You know, that sort of thing never happens around here anymore. That lady won’t be able to sleep tonight. What you did is going to keep her up the whole time.”

Wow! Was what I had done really that spectacular?

As I walked towards the doors my eyes began to well up with tears.

Was what I had done really that spectacular? I could think of a million more substantial acts of service than that one. It was literally nothing. And yet, to receive such a disproportionate response…

God, I don’t understand this world I live in! I can’t believe there’s so little hope that my simple act of service brought startling joy to an old woman. How sad has this world become? Is this what you’re talking about when you said to “be a light in the darkness”? Thank you for using me, in even the most mundane of ways, to bring glory to your name. I’m amazed how you can turn my simple obedience into a great testimony of your redemption. May the name of Jesus be lifted high here on earth!

I walked away from the store tonight in prayer.

May that woman know the source of all joy and life, Jesus Christ. God, thank you for opening my eyes to see how my life reflects back to you. Any change, any transformation people see in my life is because of the working power of Christ. The forgiveness I give comes from the fact that I’ve been forgiven much by the Father. And the joy that I share flows out of the abundance that I receive in Jesus.

I really had no idea what it meant to live a life so serious and aware of the fact that I reflect the one I serve, or that the impact could be so substantial. And God impressed on my heart that if I’m faithful and obedient with the small things then he can trust me with larger things. I can’t imagine what would happen if all Christians lived daily aware of the impact their actions can have on others. I’ll never know, this side of heaven, the impact I’ve had on peoples’ lives but I feel that God chose to reveal just a glimpse of what that might look like to me today.

So be encouraged! Your life, a living sacrifice, burns as a testimony to unending love and power of Jesus Christ. Don’t just settle for ordinary. Ask God for boldness to step out in faith and proclaim his name. The next time I encounter someone I pray that I’ll have the yearning to go beyond just a simple deed and actually tell them about this source of living water I’ve found in Christ.

(Written on September 30, 2009)