From: Jim Legg <jimlegg7@gmail.com>
Date: July 18, 2017 at 8:52:44 AM CDT
My morning office is the Waffle House. About 3 months ago I went into the Waffle
House (WH) and I sat down in a chair at the “low bar,” the bar you can sit at that
is at normal chair height. I did not notice the used coffee cup that was on the bar
in the back next to the menu rack in front of the chair I sat in. It belonged to a
man I will call Chuck., who happened to have gone outside to smoke a morning
cigarette. Chuck is a man who comes frequently to the WH. He is a “rough” and
crude man in his late 50’s. He cusses allot and gives the waitresses and customers
a hard time and is sharp with them when he is “in that mood.” Chuck walked back
into the WH, saw me sitting in “his chair,” walked up to me and said coldly “Hey
mother _____ you are in my seat!” I turned to him and before I could say a word
the two waitresses who were standing there almost jumped over the bar and
verbally attacked Chuck. One said, “Now you listen here you mother ______ this
man here is a ______ing man of God and if you ever talk to him like that again
I will kick your ________ @ss!! “The other waitress jumped in, “Ya, he is my
________ pastor! What the _______ is wrong with you.!” Show some ________
respect! The waitress’s high fived each other and one said to the other. “Sword
of the spirit! B#tch” and Chuck turned and walked out.
I sat there and processed what had just happened! First, the waitresses have
never come to an ODC gathering, though I have invited them many times. And
I never told the waitresses I was their pastor. But because of my coming into
the WH four or five mornings a week and talking, listening, and praying with them
it appears that is how they saw me. The other day the waitresses were talking
about how life seemed to be attacking them. I took out my phone and I read to
them from Ephesians 6 about the armor of God and explained it to them. And
the one waitresses shouting, “Sword of the spirit b#tch” shows they were listening
and retaining what I told them, I just need to work a little more on their application
of that verse!
Fast forward to a month ago. I was walking in the WH and Chuck was outside
in the front smoking. I said good morning to him as I was walking by and Chuck
kind of quietly and nicely (especially for Chuck!) asked if I had a moment. I told
him sure and stopped by him. He said quietly as he looked at the ground, “I know
you are kind of a religious guy and it’s not that big of a deal but I was wondering
if you would pray for me for something. “I said, “Sure what’s up?” And he went
on to say that the Doctors think he may have prostate cancer and he had a test
today to confirm it. I said, “of course,” but before I could say anything else he
opened up and told me a story for about 10 minutes. The short summary of it
was that he used to go to church a long time ago and was kind of close to God.
Then he was drafted to Vietnam to fight in the war. He said he did some things
there he was not proud of; things God could not forgive him for. He said in
attacks on villages he shot and killed enemy soldiers who were just kids, also
women, and elderly. He saw children killed and witnessed and participated in
other atrocities of war. He stopped praying after the war and has never gone
back to church since he came back to the states. When I asked to pray with
him there he said no, he had to leave, but for me to pray as you feel God will
listen.
As he walked away my heart both mourned for him and was convicted for me.
I had joined in with others at the WH at times commenting on Chuck and his
behavior. However, the reason Chuck was an angry, and hurtful man is he was
filled with guilt that separated him from God. Guilt from things he did he thought
were not forgivable. And I thought I know and preach that God can forgive
anything, I have never put him to “the test” of his forgiveness like Chuck has to.
If I was the one looking down an M-16 and watching bullets splatter bodies of
kids and women from my gun and trigger I was pulling, the event might make
me an even bigger, hateful, guilt filled ass than Chuck. It reminded me that
people are never the enemy.
Fast forward to yesterday morning. I was in the WH at the bar talking with
customers and the waitresses when Chuck walked in. He walked over to a
side bar he never sits in by himself and sat down. No cussing, no loud
comments to people as he came in the restaurant. He looked devastated.
One of the waitresses said they heard his son had died the previous night. My
spirit told me to go sit in the chair next to him and I did. I said good morning to
him and he said hey, and his eyes began to fill with tears. I told him I had heard
that his son had died and if it was true, and if so I was so sorry. We talked
again for 20 minutes. Summary, he told me his son who was 31 years old
and some of his friends, Chuck, and Chucks wife, (his son’s mother) were out
on the front porch talking. His son told his friends how he had bought a new
pistol. They asked to see it. He went into his truck and got it out, removed the
clip, and thought the gun was empty. It was not. He came back to the porch
and in handing the gun to his friend when somehow it went off and the bullet
hit is son in the head from less than 2 feet away. They rushed him to the
hospital but he died a few hours after he arrived. Chuck said he and his wife
witnessed it. He could not get the sight out of his mind. It reminded him of
the war. He had to come home from the hospital and clean his son’s blood,
hair, and other parts from the side of his house and porch. Tears were flowing
down his face. He asked me if this was God’s punishment for the kids he
killed in Vietnam. I said of course not and we talked awhile. His son had a
wife and two kids 8 and 10 years old.
After we finished, I went home and my wife and I took the chicken I had grilled
for dinner, along with sides, bread and a dessert, and I put it in a box and took it
up to the WH. I also wrote a note to the family stating I was praying for them and
asking to let me know if I could help in anyway with my phone number on it and
put it in the box as well. I pulled into the WH just in time as Chuck was walking
to his car to leave. I parked, got the box and gave it to him. Chuck teared up
again as he took it. He said I did not have to, but I insisted, told him I was praying
for him, and I left.
Fast forward to today. I received a call today from Chuck. He thanked me for
the food. He then said he and his family do not have any money. They are
getting the cheapest cremation they can, and just going to do a remembrance
service at their home. Their family does not attend a church, they do not know
many church people, let alone preachers, and he asked if I would be willing to
come to their house and share from the Bible and some words over their son
and their family. I told him I would be honored to.
“I have been going to the WH regularly for over 3 years now. Sometimes I
wondered if I needed to continue going. Only one or two people, employees or
customers, have ever came to an ODC gathering. So if you go by traditional
church metrics, my time investment has not led to “church” growth or increased
“numbers in the pews.” It has not resulted in one penny going into our offertory
plate or pastor support. Yet God reminded me of my prayer I say to him every
morning, which is, “God, please send me today the ones that no one else wants.”
No one wanted Chuck, even I found it hard to be around him. But God through
just being faithful has given me an amazing opportunity; to be welcomed into
his house; a house, a circle of family and friends that no other pastor has ever
been invited into, and share the love of God with them. And that is my heart’s
desire, not to see them as an “evangelist’s projector opportunity” but a family in
pain that simply needs the love of God, and to love them. I pray I may honor this.
My ODC family, I pray today you will be led by the Holy Spirit not to seek and
enter into some structured ministry with people, but just simply enter into life and
the lives of people. That in your daily set schedule you will allow and come to
expect, even long for interruptions from two things: God and people. Please
pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Gary Liederbach
Lead Follower: ODC
Date: July 18, 2017 at 8:52:44 AM CDT
My morning office is the Waffle House. About 3 months ago I went into the Waffle
House (WH) and I sat down in a chair at the “low bar,” the bar you can sit at that
is at normal chair height. I did not notice the used coffee cup that was on the bar
in the back next to the menu rack in front of the chair I sat in. It belonged to a
man I will call Chuck., who happened to have gone outside to smoke a morning
cigarette. Chuck is a man who comes frequently to the WH. He is a “rough” and
crude man in his late 50’s. He cusses allot and gives the waitresses and customers
a hard time and is sharp with them when he is “in that mood.” Chuck walked back
into the WH, saw me sitting in “his chair,” walked up to me and said coldly “Hey
mother _____ you are in my seat!” I turned to him and before I could say a word
the two waitresses who were standing there almost jumped over the bar and
verbally attacked Chuck. One said, “Now you listen here you mother ______ this
man here is a ______ing man of God and if you ever talk to him like that again
I will kick your ________ @ss!! “The other waitress jumped in, “Ya, he is my
________ pastor! What the _______ is wrong with you.!” Show some ________
respect! The waitress’s high fived each other and one said to the other. “Sword
of the spirit! B#tch” and Chuck turned and walked out.
I sat there and processed what had just happened! First, the waitresses have
never come to an ODC gathering, though I have invited them many times. And
I never told the waitresses I was their pastor. But because of my coming into
the WH four or five mornings a week and talking, listening, and praying with them
it appears that is how they saw me. The other day the waitresses were talking
about how life seemed to be attacking them. I took out my phone and I read to
them from Ephesians 6 about the armor of God and explained it to them. And
the one waitresses shouting, “Sword of the spirit b#tch” shows they were listening
and retaining what I told them, I just need to work a little more on their application
of that verse!
Fast forward to a month ago. I was walking in the WH and Chuck was outside
in the front smoking. I said good morning to him as I was walking by and Chuck
kind of quietly and nicely (especially for Chuck!) asked if I had a moment. I told
him sure and stopped by him. He said quietly as he looked at the ground, “I know
you are kind of a religious guy and it’s not that big of a deal but I was wondering
if you would pray for me for something. “I said, “Sure what’s up?” And he went
on to say that the Doctors think he may have prostate cancer and he had a test
today to confirm it. I said, “of course,” but before I could say anything else he
opened up and told me a story for about 10 minutes. The short summary of it
was that he used to go to church a long time ago and was kind of close to God.
Then he was drafted to Vietnam to fight in the war. He said he did some things
there he was not proud of; things God could not forgive him for. He said in
attacks on villages he shot and killed enemy soldiers who were just kids, also
women, and elderly. He saw children killed and witnessed and participated in
other atrocities of war. He stopped praying after the war and has never gone
back to church since he came back to the states. When I asked to pray with
him there he said no, he had to leave, but for me to pray as you feel God will
listen.
As he walked away my heart both mourned for him and was convicted for me.
I had joined in with others at the WH at times commenting on Chuck and his
behavior. However, the reason Chuck was an angry, and hurtful man is he was
filled with guilt that separated him from God. Guilt from things he did he thought
were not forgivable. And I thought I know and preach that God can forgive
anything, I have never put him to “the test” of his forgiveness like Chuck has to.
If I was the one looking down an M-16 and watching bullets splatter bodies of
kids and women from my gun and trigger I was pulling, the event might make
me an even bigger, hateful, guilt filled ass than Chuck. It reminded me that
people are never the enemy.
Fast forward to yesterday morning. I was in the WH at the bar talking with
customers and the waitresses when Chuck walked in. He walked over to a
side bar he never sits in by himself and sat down. No cussing, no loud
comments to people as he came in the restaurant. He looked devastated.
One of the waitresses said they heard his son had died the previous night. My
spirit told me to go sit in the chair next to him and I did. I said good morning to
him and he said hey, and his eyes began to fill with tears. I told him I had heard
that his son had died and if it was true, and if so I was so sorry. We talked
again for 20 minutes. Summary, he told me his son who was 31 years old
and some of his friends, Chuck, and Chucks wife, (his son’s mother) were out
on the front porch talking. His son told his friends how he had bought a new
pistol. They asked to see it. He went into his truck and got it out, removed the
clip, and thought the gun was empty. It was not. He came back to the porch
and in handing the gun to his friend when somehow it went off and the bullet
hit is son in the head from less than 2 feet away. They rushed him to the
hospital but he died a few hours after he arrived. Chuck said he and his wife
witnessed it. He could not get the sight out of his mind. It reminded him of
the war. He had to come home from the hospital and clean his son’s blood,
hair, and other parts from the side of his house and porch. Tears were flowing
down his face. He asked me if this was God’s punishment for the kids he
killed in Vietnam. I said of course not and we talked awhile. His son had a
wife and two kids 8 and 10 years old.
After we finished, I went home and my wife and I took the chicken I had grilled
for dinner, along with sides, bread and a dessert, and I put it in a box and took it
up to the WH. I also wrote a note to the family stating I was praying for them and
asking to let me know if I could help in anyway with my phone number on it and
put it in the box as well. I pulled into the WH just in time as Chuck was walking
to his car to leave. I parked, got the box and gave it to him. Chuck teared up
again as he took it. He said I did not have to, but I insisted, told him I was praying
for him, and I left.
Fast forward to today. I received a call today from Chuck. He thanked me for
the food. He then said he and his family do not have any money. They are
getting the cheapest cremation they can, and just going to do a remembrance
service at their home. Their family does not attend a church, they do not know
many church people, let alone preachers, and he asked if I would be willing to
come to their house and share from the Bible and some words over their son
and their family. I told him I would be honored to.
“I have been going to the WH regularly for over 3 years now. Sometimes I
wondered if I needed to continue going. Only one or two people, employees or
customers, have ever came to an ODC gathering. So if you go by traditional
church metrics, my time investment has not led to “church” growth or increased
“numbers in the pews.” It has not resulted in one penny going into our offertory
plate or pastor support. Yet God reminded me of my prayer I say to him every
morning, which is, “God, please send me today the ones that no one else wants.”
No one wanted Chuck, even I found it hard to be around him. But God through
just being faithful has given me an amazing opportunity; to be welcomed into
his house; a house, a circle of family and friends that no other pastor has ever
been invited into, and share the love of God with them. And that is my heart’s
desire, not to see them as an “evangelist’s projector opportunity” but a family in
pain that simply needs the love of God, and to love them. I pray I may honor this.
My ODC family, I pray today you will be led by the Holy Spirit not to seek and
enter into some structured ministry with people, but just simply enter into life and
the lives of people. That in your daily set schedule you will allow and come to
expect, even long for interruptions from two things: God and people. Please
pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Gary Liederbach
Lead Follower: ODC
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