Friday, July 13, 2007

Things We Remember All of Our Lives


Jessica Osborne is a waitress at Pizza Hut. She’s generally cheery and reported to be a nice young lady who takes care of her customers. Recently Jessica’s ordinary day became extraordinary as she worked at the Angola, Indiana restaurant and received a $10,000 tip!

“When I opened it up, I thought maybe I read too many zeroes and I lost my breath,” Osborne told ABC’s “Good Morning America”.

The tip came from regular customers who usually show up on Fridays and order a Meatlovers pizza. Through bits and pieces of conversations over the weeks the family discovered that Jessica didn’t get the financial aid she had hoped for from the local college and therefore wasn’t going to be able to attend.

Becky, the mom of the pizza loving family, felt that they ought to do something to help Jessica. Then tragedy struck. Becky’s husband and daughter were killed in a car accident. Becky was left with a large settlement and thus was able to give the $10,000 tip.

I loved this story of kindness, generosity, disappointment, tragic loss, and good coming from something bad. It occurred to me that Jessica will remember this for the rest of her life. She will be telling her children and grandchildren, not to mention scores of others through the years, about the $10,000 tip she received from the generous family that had also suffered an awful loss.

What has happened in your life that you will remember all of your life? No doubt there are some things that are on the negative side of the ledger. However, on the positive side I’ll always remember John Caldwell caring enough about me as a young 15 year old boy that he came over to my house one Saturday in November to share with me about how to become a Christ follower. Likewise, I’ve told that story hundreds of times through the years. I’ll continue to tell the story until I die.

“Thank You God for the powerful gifts you bring to us through simple yet profound people who are responsive to your promptings.”

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