Please bear with me. I am about to be very vulnerable, and tell you a story that does not make me look that great. I wish I could say I am a completely non-judgmental person, and I give everyone an equal chance. But, I am human. I fight with inner judgements and biases everyday. If you are reading this and you think you are bias free, you are wrong. Having biases is apart of our fallen human nature. The important part is how we deal with our biases. Letting our biases rule our decisions, and the judgements we make about people is not right. Rather, identify your bias, and let the Lord lead your decisions and judgements.
A few years ago I worked at a Christian coffee shop in Texas. For convenience we always kept the coffee cups next to the register. Our manager would randomly draw hearts on the bottom of the cups. We called them blessing cups. In a stack of 50 cups only 2 or 3 blessing cups. We never knew when we would grab one, it was a surprise. I loved this part of my job. Guests would light up when we told them they did not have to pay.
It was a Sunday morning and I was working the cash register. I was having a pretty good morning, until…. A man came up to the register speaking very rudely, “I want a large mocha with extra syrup, and extra whip cream, and can you not charge me for all the additions I want to take my daughter to the water park.” Y’all, this when my bias hit. Here were my thoughts, “If you do not have money to pay for your daughters things, you should not be buying a five dollar cup of coffee. And who do you think you are coming in here demanding to not pay for stuff?! And you didn’t even say please! Entitled jerk!” Of course that is not what came out of my mouth, thank God! Instead, I nicely said, “Sorry sir, but I have to charge you for the additions.”
I grabbed the coffee cup to write his order on the side, and then I saw it….. There was a handwritten heart on the bottom of the cup. You have got to be kidding me? I did not want to give this guy a free coffee for being rude to me! I looked behind him and saw a sweet family. I thought to myself, I will re-stack the cups and give the blessing cup to the nice family. They seemed more deserving. Then a loud voice, God’s voice, spoke strongly, “You do not get to choose who I get to bless.” Ouch. That hurt.
Biting my pride, and pushing through my bias of seemingly entitled people, I gave him the blessing that God wanted to give him, a free large mocha with all the additions he wanted. It did not feel great. I felt like a puppy in training whose owner just sprayed with a water bottle.
It is not our job to choose who God wants to bless. Our job is simply to obey, and lay down our pride in the process.
I challenge you to bless someone who you think does not deserve it. Afterall, that is the true meaning of grace.
OUR STORY:
In 1994, the McMillan family traveled to the kidnapping, murder, and drug capital of the western hemisphere to plant a church and a foundation. God thought Medellin, Colombia a good place to raise a family. And turns out He was right (as He usually is). It became a very large family: The church, Comunidad (Community), is now the largest church in Medellin with over 8,000 members, the Foundation, Viento Fresco, cares for over 150 high-risk children, and a non-profit coffee shop, New Hearts Cafe, serves cups of caffeine and the love of Jesus to thousands of college students.
God is doing so much in Medellin, and we write about here on the Teammcmillan.org blog!
THERE ARE FOUR WAYS TO BE PART OF THE STORY.
- Pray. Pray. Pray for us. We need it.
- Donate via Mission South America Paypal (We also need it).
- Buy Andrew´s new book on Amazon The Safest Place on Earth.
- Join us in Medellin for a Missions Trip.
Contact us by joining our email list.
TEAM MCMILLAN 
For sure that’s when it is hardest! But in reality that man’s blessing even became yours.
Great Testamony. That is how Jesus reaches the world, us too . Thanks for sharing