I’m not one who likes to eat out very often; I’m a kind of a food snob. When I do go to eat out typically find myself wondering why I even wasted my time and money eating out because I could have made something tastier for less money. On this particular day (3/14/14) as I was sitting at work I felt like I should go out to eat. I text Andy and asked him if he wanted to get lunch almost instantly he replied and said “Yes, see you at noon.” As I was sitting at my desk I thought to myself, “We should get Chick-fil-A.” I think Chick-fil-A tastes good but it does not react well with my body. For some reason the feeling persisted, “Go get Chick-fil-A.” When I got in the car the first words out of Andy’s mouth were, “Let’s go to Chick-fil-A.” Chick-fil-A it was.
As we walked up to the restaurant I noticed a man sitting at one of the outside tables, this man didn’t look much older than me. As I looked at this man it was as if I heard a voice saying, “This man is hungry, get him some food.” We walked into the restaurant and I asked Andy to get a table and told him I would order the food. While I stood in line I noticed a second man who looked very much like the first man. This second man walked outside and sat down with the first man. The two men had each ordered a very small bowl of something.
Before long I noticed a third man, he looked similar to the first two men but appeared to be much older. As he walked up to the cash register he handed the cashier a coupon for a free bowl of tortilla soup and that was all he ordered. I thought to myself, “That’s what those other two men ordered. That can’t possibly be enough food."
I ordered mine and Andy’s lunch and walked to the table. I looked at Andy and said, “Did you notice the man sitting outside?” He hadn’t noticed. I said, “There are three of them and they are hungry. Would you like to ask them what they would like to eat or would you like me to do it?” He said he would ask them. I told him to order whatever the men wanted. He promptly got up and walked outside to see if they men would like some food.
He quickly learned that there were four men in total. One man was from Washington and one was from Portland, Oregon. The men had been hopping trains and were trying to get to Colorado. Andy asked if they would like a sandwich and they said yes. He ordered each man a full on meal and took the food out to them. They were so excited. One of the men said, “A drink. I haven’t had a drink in days.”
It made me really sad every time someone in the restaurant looked at these men, they looked at them with disdain and like they didn’t belong. I grew up being taught that you shouldn’t judge another person, especially by their appearance. People experience different things in life and you likely do not know what is going on in the other person’s life. Some of the best people I know have had a similar appearance to these four men. I was reminded that day that in God’s eyes we are all the same. I am no better than these four men. Who am I to not help them? I am really grateful for the opportunity that I had to serve these children of Heavenly Father. That was the best $30.00 Andy and I spent all week.
