WalMart Encounter

One of the Ladies from my church is having a baby shower this weekend and I am in charge of the games. I went to Walmart today to get the supplies that I need. We were shopping as usual and I saw a Lady that looked strangely familiar. I knew that I knew her from somewhere, but I couldn't place where. She passed by me and said "Hey, I know you!". I responded by saying Hey, I know you too! We exchanged more conversation to find out that she teaches the Science class at the Co-op my daughter attends on Wednesday (for violin).

I see this Woman once a week and I didn't even know her name. So, I apologized for not knowing her name and introduced myself and the children.

Why do we pass people every week, every day sometimes, and not know their name???? Are we afraid that they will bite us if we ask? Maybe we think that they really don't want to be bothered. Maybe WE don't want to be bothered. I'm not really sure, but if I call myself a Christian, I just have a hard time believing that Christ would walk past the same person every week and not introduce Himself. So I am making a commitment to start with the people that I see every week and stop, ask them their name, and introduce myself.

On to the second part of the Walmart Encounter...


It's time to checkout and it seems like every person in front of me has $300 worth of groceries in their cart. So I keep going and keep going until finally I get behind a lady who only seems to have $150 worth of groceries in her cart.

I have to wait minute before I can start loading my items because the whole conveyor belt is full of groceries. While we waited patiently, my daughter struck up a conversation with the lady regarding the beautiful hyacinths in her basket. Turns out she bought them for a baby shower she is holding this weekend.

So I tell her that we too are going to a baby shower and that I am in charge of the games. Her eyes lit up instantly. She does not know much about baby showers and needed some ideas for games. So I told her all the games I had planned and showed her the supplies in my cart. She was ecstatic!

She went on to tell me how she had prayed to God to help her with the games. "I didn't know what I was going to do, so God sent you". "Isn't God good", I replied.

The cashier is listening the whole time and comments on how she loves it when she learns new things from her customers and how she had just had the most awful customer but it was OK now, because we had brightened her day.

Who knew? I went to Walmart to get some supplies and got so much more.

Now the sad part is, I have no idea what the lady's name is. I didn't even think to ask. You would think I would have learned that from the previous experience that just happened not even 20 minutes earlier! :-)