Day of Praise

Mon, 10/02/17, "Day of Praise"

"And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God." - Leviticus 23:22

I was putting gas in our car just now, and it reminded me of a story from the past. Sometimes you don't laugh because something's funny. Sometimes you laugh because, well, there's nothing else to do. 

Some of you know the Pilot gas station at the Rising Fawn exit on I-59 and know it's as open as the big sky in Montana. But apparently stealing needs no cloak. 

I was on my way back from Tennessee a few years ago, and I'd gone in that Pilot gas station store to grab some caffeine and prepay with cash for my gas. As I'm walking out to my car, I got to thinking how funny it would be if I forgot to pump my prepaid gas and just got in my car and drove away. As I continued to flesh it out, I was laughing how I'd get ten miles down the road and look at my fuel gauge and go, "Aaaaaah, I don't believe it. I forgot my gas." So I'd drive a few miles to the next exit, then turn around, go back to the Pilot, pull up to the same pump, and get my gas. 

Then, after the fifteen seconds that it took for all that to go through my mind, I start laughing at how funny it would be if it was somebody else who forgot to pump their prepaid gas and before they got back that it was I myself who had just pulled into the gas station and up to that pump and saw the screen flashing, "$40 prepaid," "$40 prepaid," "$40 prepaid." I'd be thinking, "Wow! Thanks, God!"

So, I was imagining all this in the thirty seconds it took me to get from the cash register to my car. Now, it's back to reality. I open my tank, take off the pump #14 hose, look up for a moment, and see a van full of clearly-poor-guys on the opposite pump hose #13. They're smiling and waving at me. Through their windows, it looks like they're saying, "Hey, Preacher! How ya' doin'?" I say, "Hello!" to their friend who is pumping the gas. He's got a big metal cross hanging on a chain around his neck. He's got a bigger smile on his face. 

I'm thinking, "Those guys sure are happy." And I start trying to pump my prepaid gas. Nothing happens. The hose handle is stuck. I try again. Nothing. One more time. Nothing. So I think the cashier forgot to turn on my pump. No problem, sometimes I forget where my keys are, and they're right there in my hand. So I walk back into the Pilot under the big sky of Rising Fawn and wave to the cashier to turn on my pump. She looks at me, then through me, and yells, "Stop them!"

So I turn around and see my poor but happy van friends as they start to drive away. 

Ya see, somehow in the time it took me to daydream about forgetting gas, finding gas, and wondering what was going on with my gas, my poor but happy van friends were stealing my gas and not saying, "Hey, Preacher! How ya' doin'?" but "Hey, Preacher! Thanks for the gas!"

And all I could do was laugh, because what else are you gonna' do? I don't know. Maybe think about Leviticus 23:22, "And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God."

Hey, gleanings from a harvest? $40 of gas? We can deal with it. 

After all, God's left a whole lot more behind for you and me!

Think about it!

Praise God!