Stanley recounts a time in the book that he took the passage Matthew 5:23-24 to heart.Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
After years of no conversation, he went and apologized to this person even though it was out of his comfort zone.
Stanley argues,
"When a believer harms an unbeliever in any way, and never comes back to assume responsibility for his or her behavior, the consequences can have eternal ramifications."Little did I know that God was preparing me for my own comfort zone situation. My husband and I were getting ready to fly back to Michigan after a wonderful vacation with our daughters. Early this morning our family gathered for breakfast and had a conversation about customer service and how people can be rude. Our daughter Lissa happens to work in customer service and was sharing with us some of the comical events that have happened to her. I can still hear her saying that she always just smiles when people get agitated.
We were off to the airport where we returned the rental car, arrived at the airport early and walked up to Continental airlines to get our boarding passes. I entered our information into the kiosk and it gave me an error message, Please see a customer service agent. A young woman assisted us and I could tell by the scrunched up face that there was an issue. I was a little irritated that it was taking too long. The young woman and Lauren, another agent were feverishly trying to resolve the issue. This is when we found out that somehow, our returning flight had been cancelled and our seats had been given to someone else. "We can fly you out tomorrow morning" the young woman said as she looked up from her monitor. At that moment, as I was ready to scream,
"We didn't make a mistake, We booked our flights, paid for our tickets, arrived early, We want our seats!!!!" I kept thinking, "Be nice" God wants to use this.Lauren tried and tried to find us seats, but every connecting flight to Grand Rapids was booked. "I know it's not your fault, but we really want to get home", I calmly told her. Just then, her supervisor Paul came over and they made a decision to overbook the flight, and gave us seats. Phew, that was close! After we said thank you to them, I realized that in the beginning I had given the death stare to the first customer service agent. I knew in that moment that I needed to apologize. Andy Stanley would be so proud of me! I turned to the young woman and said,
I am sorry if I came off rude to you, you did not deserve that. Thank you for helping us.I don't know if she knows Jesus but, I don't want to be the one who is the obstacle to her believing in Him. When we got on the plane we had been upgraded to exit seats! Gotta love how God blesses us when we are obedient!
Father, thank you for reminding me to take off my old nature and put on your new one. Holy Spirit I am grateful for your guidance, continue to lead and guide until I follow your every prompting. Jann
It is difficult to be nice when others are not! Thanks for the reminder
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