I’m the president of a local civic club. Today was our monthly lunch meeting, and the speaker had requested a video projector and screen. John is a friend who has these items to use in his ministry and willingly lets me borrow them when needed.
There was just one problem. I forgot to ask to borrow them.
The speaker emailed me about an hour and a half before the meeting confirming the equipment would be there. I thought, “Oh, <insert flowery vocabulary of blessing and warm feelings>”
Not knowing what else to do, I called John, who was mallwalking with his wife. I explained the situation, and he came through. He ran home (they were in separate cars), got the equipment and beat me to the meeting and was finishing set up as I walked in.
I invited him to stay for our meeting and he did. In gratitude, I bought his lunch.
You have to understand that John was once very highly placed in a major industry for many years, working with some of the top and most influential executives in the world. He told me today that he had recently received a call from the widow of one of these execs, asking him to call one of her best friends, a well known star from the 60’s and 70’s, to brief him on a project for which John was consulting.
John walked away from all of that in order to, among other reasons, minister to college students in understanding how to defend their faith. He is literally the most humble man I know. You would never guess his background from just looking at him and talking with him. Furthermore, he is gracious with people I try to avoid.
All of this is important to understand because of what happened after the meeting. We were loading the equipment into his car and I was thanking him profusely again for bailing me out.
He closed the car door, turned to me with a serious expression, and said, “I would do anything for you.”
Who am I, this young buck, that this godly man with “connections” a politician would envy, should honor me like this?
I have a long way to go to be worthy of that kind of honor. But that is exactly the point and purpose of grace.
Thank you again, John.
SDG
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