Seeing the Son in Sonny’s

This Sabbath for whatever reason I got into a funk.  You know, that kind of mood where everything annoys you, and you just don’t want to do anything?  And of course you have to go to church, so even more annoying!  I was seriously sitting in church having that mental “tantrum” with God, and at one point I asked Him where He even was because it sure didn’t feel like it there!

Well, God being God, He decided to show me….albeit the next day.  On Sunday I went with my wife to the school where she works.  It’s an old public school (built in 1965) that serves a lot of low income kids and families.  So why were we there on Sunday?  Well two reasons, the first was to take some boxes from the car and put them in her classroom for next school year.

The other reason, though, was that the school was having an open house….sort of.  If you’re from the South, you’ve probably heard of Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q.  It is great food, let me tell you!  But I digress.  Sonny’s is a BBQ chain down here, and fairly popular with the locals.  But I learned on Sunday that they do a lot more than just make great food.

Each summer for the past few years Sonny’s has quietly been serving the community in spectacular fashion.  They run what they call “Sonny’s Summer Character Camp” with help from the Boy Scouts and the Florida Learning for Life program.  It’s a week-long day camp for underprivileged kids, and it is 100% free.  Not only that, Sonny’s feeds the kids both lunch and breakfast….and sadly for some of the kids those might be their only meals.  They have activities and quite a few local business and leaders (like a police office, the fire department, even the local state representative).  They incorporate character building attributes such as Respect, Citizenship, Cooperation, Caring, and Self-Discipline.  It’s such an awesome opportunity for kids who wouldn’t otherwise have any.

I was putting the dishes away this evening and I saw a GODencounters mug I have from 2008.  Our theme that year was “Reflecting the Son” and emphasis was on showing others Jesus by how you live and act each day.    I thought back over my weekend, and I realized that I hadn’t done much reflecting to anyone.  But God was reflected back to me by a non-Christian company that was doing exactly what Jesus would do: Being a good neighbor and taking care of the poor, even in a small way.

I’m thankful for a God who is bigger than my pettiness.  And I’m so heartened to see that God is still actively at work in the world, taking care of the less fortunate and fortunate alike.  How do I know?  Because this weekend I saw the Son reflected in Sonny’s.

Encounter: Who can you reflect Jesus to this week?