But that's not what I'm writing about. Here's what went down:
Part of the way through the day, a lady walked past our stand and told us to go and pick up a bunch of trash that people had left down in an area where the auctioneer had been auctioning off stuff. I thought she was mistaken, and I said "Oh, we're not affiliated with the people that put on this auction. That's not our job."
And she was like "Well you sold the food didn't you?"
"And we've got trash cans right here!" I shot back.
And then my little sister, the saint that she is (and I'm not being sarcastic), interjected "Well, we can do it."
"Kaitlynn, it isn't our job, don't do it," but off she went to pick up trash.
A minute later, our youth pastor walked up, and I asked, "Hey Al, is it our job to pick up trash?"
And he agreed with me: "Nope."
"I thought so," said I. A little later on in the day I found out that the woman who had told us to pick up the trash was, in fact, one of the organizers of the auction - whose job it was to do, well, just about everything other than sell the food and talk really fast.
First off, I was really taken aback when she told us to pick up the trash. I pick up after people all week, and I get paid for it. Here I was, volunteering my time, preparing and selling food; and now this person, whom I don't know whatsoever, has the audacity to tell me to go pick up trash, when it is not my job and I'm not getting a cent for what I'm doing! There was absolutely no way in hell I was getting off of my butt to pick up trash. You know what made it worse? The reason she gave for us needing to pick it up: "You sold the food." Well sure, we sold the food, but we're not responsible for what the people do with it after it leaves our tent! Is the gun dealer who sold the gun charged with murder, or is the person that fired the gun? Seriously lady! We sold the food, indeed!
For a bit I thought that maybe I wasn't being Christ-like by standing my ground, but I didn't get up. Later on, my decision was proved correct: a. Alan confirmed that it wasn't our job & b. she was one of the organizers. So why did she want us to pick it up? She was too freaking lazy to do her job! All she was was a lazy bum! She wanted to get out of the work herself, so she tried to guilt me into doing it. Well what's up lady, I'm not that gullible! My sister is, but she served selflessly, probably like Christ would have done. But that doesn't mean that I was wrong. Not in the least.
5 comments:
Let's take a look at this Goo. As Christians we are called to be servants of ALL. That servanthood is not limited or confined to doing things that fall under the category of "fair" or "our job". If life was "fair", i would be in big trouble. If i got everything that i deserved and nothing that i did not, i would be a miserable, miserable man. So if the teachings of Jesus Christ are 100% right, and we do something contrary to those teachings, we would be wrong. Kaitlynn was not acting out of ignorance, nor was it a sign of her gullibility, she was simply doing the right thing. Did she have to? Not in the least bit, however, she stepped up to the plate and took care of something that needed to be done. And Al's response was correct, it wasn't your JOB to pick up the trash. But you were capable of doing it, and ESPECIALLY flying under the banner of Plumbline, Living Hope, and Jesus Christ. A true servant can swallow his or her pride and do those things which seem trivial, those things which seem unfair, and come back with joy knowing that they were able to help out. eric <><
I agree with Eric, Goo. What would Jesus do? Pat Schlegel
yeh, im not gunna preach, cause it's not my place.... i do think however, if you would have toaken a little different approach, the lady would have been shocked and pleased... many times, people take advantage of christians because they are sposed to be "servants", so they stomp on us and use us because we are told by God that we're sposed to. but in all actuality, that's exactally what we should do. we are sposed to be servants unto God, but God said, "do unto the least of these, and you do unto me." it's a lot easier for me to keep an open mind about people's laziness and their willingness to throw the worse, hardest jobs on me, if i think of everything as a test, or a game. that lady didnt chose to be rude, God put that lady there for you to have the oppertunity to be the bigger person. and if you think of it as a game, you get to prove to the lady that you're better than her (in your head of course)and the pride you'll feel will be outstanding. and even in that situation, you can make everything a game. every year, our youth group cleans up the fairgrounds at the fair after every day people leaving junk and making a huge mess. it would be an awful job if we thought of it as a chore, but everyone cant wait to do it every year because we find the fun out of it. we find stupid things like coupons or glass bottles, and we put them in a huge pile. at the end of cleaning, we draw people who get to keep the stuff. we turn the whole cleaning experience into a scavenger hunt, a chance to hang with friends and get free, useless stuff. we didnt have anything to do with the people who are very extremely lazy and rude and couldnt clean up after themselves, but showing the owners of the campground that we as a youth group are willing to do a job that big for free! it's a huge ministry. so, maybe a different aproach would have been a better, not neccesarily the only right way, but a better way to handle the lady. telling her, "lady, listen, it's not our job, but we will get a group of people together and clean it up in the name of God." she would have perked up, and she would have known exactly why you were doing it. another great ministry.
p.s. look at this from a different viewpoint. from an outsider looking in on this whole situation, someone could see you as just as lazy as everybody else. what would have taken a small group of the plumbline people probably 5 minutes to do, kaitlynn was willing to do on her own. now, im really not trying to say she's better than you, cause i know how nonresponsive i would be if i was told a sibling was better than me, but i would be saying the same thing if it were anyone else who came out of the grainwork and volenteered. psalms 34:22
oh sorry, it's mara, i just dont know how to say it is.... it wont let me sign in... :(
Wow, they really pwned you... My work here is complete.
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