Jesus at the gas station

It was a gas station I used to avoid. Then on a mission trip to Tennessee, we met a man who feels called to work with poor people. That’s what he called them – poor people. People struggling under the weary burden of poverty who would just appreciate a little help now and then. His attitude, his humility, convicted me that some of the people and places I’d been avoiding were the very places that God most wanted me to be.Now I make it a point to stop at that gas station. When it is day light, at least.

On my way back to work the other afternoon, I pulled in to get a pop. Outside at the pay phone, a pretty young woman talked on the phone in Spanish. With one foot, she rocked a baby in a stroller while a two-year-old beat on a trash can with a stick. At the counter, I had to walk around a guy scratching off lottery tickets. The customer ahead of me handed the clerk three $1 bills and told her to put it on pump number two. Three dollars – enough for one gallon of gasoline. Was that even enough to his old van to work and back?

I bought my glass of pop and went back outside. An old Buick had pulled up beside my car, the driver slunk down in the seat and a ball cap pulled low shielding his eys. With a wary glance at the pit bull in the back seat, I slipped into my car and quickly shut the door.

The pop settled in the console, I turned on the key. The radio came on and it was playing the Mercy Me song “God With Us.” What if Jesus came to that gas station? What if I he had sent me to be his representative today?

Because the Holy Spirit lives within a Christian, when we go out and meet people, talk to them, buy a pop and offer a friendly smile, we take God to them. Oh, yes, there’s a lot more to winning our world for Christ than walking through it. I wish I’d given the guy $10 for his gas bill, for one.

It all starts by being with them, being in their lives when they are hurting, going to the places where they are needy. Maybe next time when I go to the gas station, someone will think, “God was with us.”

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” II Corinthians 5:20