It's the Yeast Rolls Y'all!

Mike and I were on our way out to dinner a while back, when we invited the boys to go out with us.  

Our schedules had gotten so varied and, in the past, we just didn't have the resources to do this often. 

So dinner out as a family was a treat!

As we were squeezing The Boys in the back seat (Cameron-20, Matthew- 19, and Kyle-17) we were already talking about where to go... O'Charley's it is!  As Matthew said,

"It's the yeast rolls, y'all!"

Off we go, conversation flowing, getting caught up on each other’s lives.  Cameron was in college, Matthew worked two jobs, and Kyle a senior in high school, you can imagine the random things that we talked about.  

These guys are so fun to be around. They are my favorite friends in the world. 

Dinner was good.  The company was great. We did, however, run into a problem with the check...you see, the server came and took Mike's debit card but didn't return...Mike gets up to go and look for her...comes back...didn't see her.  Uh-oh...She seemed really nice and everything...

Just then the manager of the restaurant comes by to tell us that our card had been lost and they were looking frantically everywhere.  Our server, who seemed missing, was actually out back digging in the trash to try and find it!  The manager apologized profusely and stated his embarrassment over the matter and tells us that our dinner was on the house.  Well, great, but what do we do? 

It was Friday night.  The place was busy.  Our server was pleasant and took great care of us during our meal and we had planned on giving a tip with our debit card.  We told the manager that we would wait a bit to see if it was found.  Meanwhile, we all looked in our wallets for any change, dollar bills, whatever we could find.  There was no way we were going to leave knowing that our server would not get paid for serving our table.  Let’s face it. Servers live off of tips.

As we waited, we noticed that other servers and managers-maybe even the bartender!- were walking by looking...down, under tables, noticing little details...looking for our lost card.  One young server stopped by to state that all the other employees were looking too.  Our server, well, she was still out in the trash looking...bless her heart.  She didn't want to face us and was quite upset.

Cameron, having been a server at a local restaurant, then told us how difficult that guests can be...over the slightest thing...and the worst patrons?  The church crowd!  Sad.

If we claim to be Christ Followers and dare to leave a mark on our world, let it be His  fingerprints we leave behind.

We told the manager to let our server know we were not upset...after all...why should we be?  Why would we want to make her night -busy and chaotic that a restaurant can be on a Friday night-miserable or cause her the stress or insecurity that mean-spirited words can leave? Our only concern was did we have enough cash on us to leave her a good tip for all her trouble?

In the end, our card was found. The card had dropped beside another table, the other guests turned it in and our card was returned. We were able to grace the server with words of appreciation, money for her service. We left full, blessed and thankful. 

Love and Grace are the fingerprints of Christ.