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A Change of Plans

December 24, 2022 - Christmas story update with regards to our annual IHOP Christmas Blessing drop -
Back story first. Generally, our side of the family gets together on Christmas Eve and we go to IHOP. Then we go back to our house to do presents. We've been doing this for the last 10 years, until this year. One of our little munchkins has the sniffles and cough so we had our celebration this morning here at the house to keep her from running in and out of the cold. So, Steve and I decided that we would go to IHOP by ourselves and drop our "Christmas Blessing" this evening.

We always whisper a prayer that God would have us sit wherever we needed to sit and have the person he wanted us to bless be our waitress. Well, this year God led us to sit in a section that was totally unoccupied at the time and was being watched over by a young man who was only 17 years old. His name was Stanley. Had our family been able to go with us this year, they probably would have had us sit in a totally different section, because we would have needed a bigger table.
Steve and I had the opportunity to talk to Stanley and found out that he had been saving up his money to buy plane tickets to go and see his girlfriend. He had actually, sold his car to help fund his trip and had been working a lot of hours. He was such a nice kid. He was very quiet and shy, and did his best to serve us.

Usually, we give our gift as we're leaving and make a mad dash for the door. The gift is for them and we just want to give and not bring any attention to ourselves. However, this year God nudged us to give Stanley our gift before we had even finished our meal and just take the time and talk to him. Besides the monetary gift, I grabbed the last of the gifts that I had given out to our BHS clients for Christmas this year. Do you remember? It was the sand dollar gifts with a note from Jesus.

After giving him the gift he came to us and expressed his heartfelt thanks not once, but three times. He told us that the "note from Jesus", plus a message from Steve and I that I had included, meant the world to him. He said that he had been struggling in his relationship with Jesus and that the message contained within was a reminder that Jesus did indeed love him. He said he had been going thru a lot of stuff lately and this was the reminder that he needed. It wasn't the money that he focused on, although for a 17 year old that was probably great, it was a reminder that Jesus loved him no matter the struggles he was facing. He then told us before we left that he would always keep the note and the sand dollar so he could be reminded that Jesus loved him and that others cared.

Things didn't go has we had planned for our annual Christmas Eve Blessing Drop, but God showed up in a new and different way. Thank you Father! We saw you and we pray that the seed that was planted in our new friend Stanley's heart, would bring him into a deeper relationship with you 🙂

BTW - Our Christmas Blessing Drop happens because of our Seed project giving during the 4th qtr of the year. If you have given to the ministry of Cafe Connections during the last 3 months, then 10% of your gift went into this fund so that we could bless others during the month of December. We have one week to go and we have more people and organizations to bless. However, to date you have helped us to give back to our community by way of encouragement a total of $1,750! Like I said, we still have a week to go, so let's see how many more we can encourage during this beautiful time of year. Merry Christmas!
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