weelllll, in the past several months we've been noticing the "God lessons" around us... whether they be in our circumstances or an audible message they are truly everywhere... today's lesson? aHem, let me set the scene...
beautiful day in laguna beach... just had lunch with timmy overlooking the bluffs... watching the pelicans fly by in a semi-V formation;)... surfers, boats, adorable puppies being walked by mutually adorable owners... light breeze, 70 degrees, great conversation... ahhhh, relaxing... 1 hour on the parking meter is almost at it's end, it's time to either, a.) feed the meter b.) give up our sublime parking spot, c.) risk the "vulturish menace" that is the lurking parking official. the choice is made FOR us when the change machine won't cough up the change for a rather limp dollar bill... timmy tries fervently to gain acceptance of said dollar bill, but... no go... timmy comes back to get me at the beautiful bluff bench we had set-up as our picnic base. we need to collect our things very quickly or the meter will count down to zero and the possibility of a parking ticket would definitely dampen the luster of this day... just as we gather our things and are heading out, (very quickly), a young shirtless man on a bicycle stops timmy and says, "hey man, could i ask you a favor?" this is his opening line and we are preoccupied with avoiding a ticket when the meter runs out... timmy gets the guy to come to his "favor" point quickly, "do you need money?" just as timmy reaches into his pocket and produces the limp dollar bill, he is handing it to the shirtless fellow and the fellow says, "yeah, i need a beer..."
what do you do? retract your hand? give him a sermon? run away? no, you hand him the sad little dollar bill and chalk it up to, D.W.A.L. "don't waste a lesson"... we may never KNOW what that lesson is? but timmy's been learning about it, reading about it, praying about it... God told him to be charitable... so, beer or not? he was...
