Extra Pickles Please

Kind of a sad but neat true story that I heard today. A 15 y/o recently passed away; in his church he was known as a leader (not just a leader, THE leader). His father would write life lessons and put them on post it notes and stick them in his car. His son inherited this trait and did the same thing. At the time of his death the police officer said he had his Casting Crowns CD blaring (which is a great album by the way) and told the father he could retrieve the post its from the vehicle. The father gathered the post its and gave them to the minister giving the eulogy.

The minister read the latest one that the boy had written, it was dated the date of his death. The child had been working at McDonalds and a woman had complained that she had ordered her burger without pickles. There was another woman in line that was visibly homeless. The homeless woman offered the boy a dime (because that was all she had) for the pickles off of the burger. The boy gave the whole sandwich to her, the woman was so thankful that she began crying. In his post it note he related the events back to his Christianity. He said that so many times we act like the first woman and feel that we are entitled to God's love when in reality we should be thanking him at every turn. Just like the woman that asked for pickles and got the whole sandwich. We asked for forgiveness and we were given the keys to the Lord's Kingdom.

What an uplifting story, this boy was wise beyond his years. On the day of his funeral 3 kids his age were baptized. My jaw dropped when I was told this story, it literally gave me goosebumps to realize that a 15 year old could come to such a profound analogy. I pray that my spiritual walk can be as strong as this boy's walk was.