Well, I wish I could tell you that I had spent 40 days in fasting, prayer and intense worship, but alas, that’s not the case.  Instead, I was hurrying to get out the door that morning.  I was traveling south to LA.  Some days it takes a lot of effort just to get me and my “stuff” into the car . . . you know frantically holding the top down on the suitcase while painstakingly tugging at the zipper to make it around the corners without completely pulling the whole suitcase apart . . . only then to discover the neatly piled toiletries still lying on the counter top yet to be shoved in as well.

So no, it hadn’t been a particularly spiritual morning as I finally got myself and my things into the car and pointed south at last.  Traveling up and down the southern coast of California many times, I’ve come to have my favorite exit for a quick potty stop and filling up my drink container.  This trip was no different.  There it was at last, Seaward Avenue exit, where yes, the golden arches of McDonald’s proudly stood.  Relief at last.

I scrambled through the wreckage of debris accumulated on the passenger seat, found my purse, jumped out to get my drink.  Of course, there were a billion people milling around in some sort of lines waiting to place their order with one of the five cashiers standing ready and waiting.  I stood there impatiently digging in the bottom of my purse for the $1.08 it would take for my large, extra large drink to sustain me for the rest of my journey.  I happened to glance up to see how many more people were in the line ahead of me and that’s when the cashier caught my eye.  He was a young Hispanic boy, maybe 18 to 20, looking ridiculously uncomfortable in his red shirt tucked partially into black pants.  That’s when all of the sudden I heard it.  Well, felt it in my spirit.  “Tell that young man how proud I am of him.  Tell him that he has worked hard, sacrificed much, but he is making very, very good choices now and I am so very, very proud and pleased with him.  And, tell him, too, how much I love him.”

No need to tell you.  I’m thinking, “God, are you crazy?  There is absolutely NO WAY I’m going to tell that kid that.  He’ll probably knife me or something.  Especially, have you seen all this crowd here?  Everyone is busy wanting to place their order and get their food and get the heck out of here.”  So, I kept arguing with God while inch by inch my turn was slowly approaching.

Just as I stepped up to order, I couldn’t believe it.  The young guy slipped away some…where to do some…thing and a business-like little gal took his place asking, “How can I help you?”  Oh my gosh, that was so, so close.  I was so relieved to be off the hook.  I have to tell you that there was no way I was not going to go through with it, though.   Me and God have a long history of his telling me to do something and then my not doing it, and then I have to deal with all of the guilt and regret and remorse and repenting that goes on afterward.  It’s just so not worth it…ok, sometimes worth it, but seriously not pleasant.

Wondering what that was all about, I grabbed my gigantic cup, went over to fill it up, crammed the lid down, stuck the straw in and turned to leave.  That’s when it all fell apart.  I looked over to the counter where just seconds before had stood five or six anxious cashiers.  There was NO ONE.  I looked around the huge open space in front of the counter.  NO ONE.  Not even one customer where there had been so many before.  Well, no one EXCEPT one.  Yep, you guessed it:   the little Hispanic guy God had been talking to me about.

Well, what else could I do?  I went up to the counter, acknowledged straight up that he would probably think I was some kind of wingnut, but I wanted to tell him something that I believed God wanted to say to him.  That’s when he visibly took two steps backwards, and I think possibly might have been considering to call his manager.  Instead he waited there with nothing less than horror on his face.  Then I told him what I had heard talking as quickly as I possibly could.  That guy’s eyes were the size of saucers.  He nearly jumped over to the counter with the biggest grin on his face and excitement coming from every pore of his being.  “How did you know that?  Why are you saying that?  I’ve just finished a program at my school and I’m getting ready to apply for the next term.  I can’t believe you said that.”  That boy was beaming.  And me?  Yep, I felt pretty stupid, but it was pretty awesome.  What’s really awesome is that God loves people.  He just loves them.  He tries to show us and he tries to tell us in so many ways.  He sure showed me that day and I hope that young man was able to see how much He loves him, too.