Clam Chowder and Telling The Truth

Jesse Birkey's picture

Enjoy and be blessed by this story from my friend Laurie Hilgers.  Make sure to check out her blog over at word press.  Link at the bottom.

Clam Chowder & Telling the Truth

My hotel room wasn’t going to be ready for a few hours. It was well after lunchtime and I was hungry. I felt Holy Spirit telling me to go the next beachside town south, so I headed that direction. That leading continued until I found myself at a well-known seafood restaurant. It’s a destination for vacationers, and people go there because that’s what everyone does.

When I mentioned it had been over 5 years since I’d been there, the hostess proudly highlighted out the improvements they’d made since then. She was super-friendly and gave me a green comment/scorecard as she seated me (it’s customary to complete this after you’ve eaten here).

My server came by a moment later to ask me what I’d like for a beverage. “Hot water with lemon, please,” was my response. I studied the comment card and knew in my gut I was going to complete it before I left.

I shifted my attention to the menu and settled on a basket of clam strips and a cup of New England style clam chowder. The server came back to take my order. She wrote it down and went on her way. It was then that I noticed she looked away when I tried to make eye contact with her. The service was fast, and I had my food in no time. However, each visit she made to my table was abrupt.

I ate the chowder and the clam strips but felt disappointed at the normalcy of the chowder and excessive breading on the clam strips. I looked over at my comment card and clicked a pen. I gave an “A” for the hostess who seated me, and “A” for the prompt service but the other marks weren’t as favorable. I graded the clam strips and chowder with a “C,” and my server also got a “C” for friendliness.

I went to pay my bill and found the hostess who seated me. I smiled at her and asked, “Whom can I give this to?” She smiled back at me and said, ‘I’ll take that.”

Her smile quickly faded. “Do you have a minute to talk with my manager?” I hesitated, but said, “Yes, I do.” It was still early and I had no place to be but right there.

“I’ll be right back,” said the hostess. Moments later she came back with another young woman. “Hi, I’m the manager,” she said.  “Can you tell me more about why you were unhappy with your food and service?” Out of the corner of my right eye, I saw a line of customers formed behind me waiting to pay their bills. They’re watching and listening to our exchange. Now, I’m mortified that I’m causing a delay and a scene at the same time.

I leaned across the counter to her and whispered, “I don’t normally do this. Can we sit and talk?”

“Oh, yes, let’s go sit over there.” We moved to a table out of earshot and sat across from each other. This is when it turned into an episode of Undercover Boss in my mind.

The young woman introduced herself and shook my hand.  She called me by name (info from the comment card) and thanked me for my time.

Her sincerity and transparency caught me off guard. “I love getting comment cards that have all “A’s” on them but I appreciate these cards (holding mine up) even more. These really help us know where we need to improve.”

I explained that I hadn’t eaten there in a few years. I came back because, well, that’s what everyone does when they come to this town (flawed thinking and behavior, yes, but it had purpose in this lesson.)

“I expected to be wowed and I wasn’t.” Did I really just say that? “The clam strips had more breading than clams.”

“Oh, did you get the small pieces in your basket? I hate when that happens.”

“I worked at Best Buy Corporate Office for 10 years,” I offered. “It really irked me that they called themselves that when clearly it was about the shareholders at the end of the day. They offered the perception that they were the ‘Best Buy,’ but it wasn’t the truth all the time.”

I went on. “People come here because other people tell them to. It’s something they do just because and not necessarily because they give it thought.” She nodded, understanding where I was going with this.

“You want people to come because it is the best: the food is the best, the service is the best.”

I was on a roll. “It’s about engagement, too. There was nothing wrong with the service I received. She was prompt and she got it all right. What was missing was the engagement. I like to engage with my servers when I’m out, to find some way to bless them. I feel somewhat cheated because she didn’t give me the opportunity to engage with her.”

The manager looked at me, taking in what I was offering, nodding her head. “If she had given me 10-15 seconds more in our exchanges it would have been a different outcome.” Another lesson here: open your heart and give your time.

We talked more and I learned we shared more than love of seafood. I closed with this: “At the end of our time here on earth, how we engage with each other is what matters. This is where we impact each other, love each other, hear each other, and touch each other.”

She thanked me for my time, shook my hand, welcomed me back, and paid for my lunch. I told her I wanted to leave a good tip for my server…and I did. This was a great learning experience and my heart was to bless, not punish.

As I drove away I asked, “Father, what was that all about?”

His response? “Telling the truth.”

He continues to unpack this for me in different scenarios. Truth is good. Telling the truth in love always has a good outcome.

Blessings,

Laurie Hilgers

Editor, Writer, Administrative Professional, Friend, Mother, Daughter and Sister

https://withlovefromportland.wordpress.com/

Exciting News

Screaming Flea Productions is casting for a new television show which will follow a team of investigators travelling the country, uncovering the chilling, real life stories of people who died, and through the power of prayer, come back to life. We will capture these elusive accounts and build the definitive record of resurrection in America.

Have you, or someone you know, had a near death experience or know of someone who played an instrumental role in bringing someone back from death with the power of prayer? We want to hear from you.  Share your story here!

Thanks,

Jesse and Kara

 

 

 

Add new comment

Add new comment

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Results

Results 411 - 420 of 490

Pages

How Do YOU Know? Digital Videos

by Mark Virkler | 12 MP4 Sessions

How do you know? What is the process you use to discover truth? I did not ask that question during the first 25 years of my life. I used eleven different methods for discovering truth including: if my parents said so, then it was so. If my teacher said it was so, then it was so. If my pastor said it was so, then it was so. If my theology said it was so, then it was so. I have discarded them all and adopted a twelfth method, which is in harmony with what the Bible teaches. We teach you this method in this series.

Price: $59.95
How to Build a Winning Team Video Download

How to Build a Winning Team Video Download

by Mark Virkler | 1 Session

Can I succeed like others have? What do I need to do? How do I go about it? What if I don't have the gifts necessary to do something great?  The wonderful truth revealed in Scripture is that God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary feats, especially when they say, "Yes, Lord" to the destiny He has prepared for them!

Price: $8.95
How to Speak in Tongues Video Download

How to Speak in Tongues Video Download

Speaking in tongues involves a miracle wherein you yield your vocal cords to the flow of the Holy Spirit, trusting that God is forming the syllables you speak into a language. It may be a language of men or of angels (1 Cor. 13:1). You choose to speak (Acts 2:4) but you choose not to form the syllables consciously, and instead let the Spirit give the utterance (Acts:2:4). The goal of this short teaching is to help people understand the part they need to play and the part the Holy Spirit plays when it comes to the miracle of speaking in tongues.

Price: $4.50
How to Walk by the Spirit Digital Video

How to Walk by the Spirit Video Download

by Mark Virkler | 12 Sessions

Are you like many western Christians who have been taught little about how to sense their spirits? Do you have trouble even defining what spirit sensations feel like within you, much less recognizing them? This training was birthed from Mark’s passion to live out of his spirit, and thus release the anointing of God. The problem he faced was lack of clear biblical definition as to what his spirit felt like. So Mark looked up every verse in the Bible on heart and spirit.

Revised & Expanded 15th Anniversary Edition

Price: $59.95
Mountain-Moving Faith Video Download

Mountain-Moving Faith Video Download

by Mark Virkler | 62 Minutes

God is our Dream Maker! He has placed a dream within the heart of each of us that only He can supernaturally bring to pass. God gave an impossible dream to Abraham, our Father of Faith. In this powerful message, Mark will show you how God filled the five senses of Abraham’s spirit with His truth and birthed a miracle out through him. And you will learn how you can walk in the same faith while you hear, see, ponder, speak and act out of the Father’s initiative, allowing Him alone to fill the senses of your spirit.

Price: $8.95
Naturally Supernatural Digital Videos

Naturally Supernatural Digital Video

by Mark Virkler | 13 Sessions

BRAND NEW Revised & Expanded 30th Anniversary Edition Video Series!

A step-by-step guide on “abiding in Christ” or how to let go and let God live naturally and powerfully out through you. Disarmingly simple. Mind-blowingly powerful.

Price: $59.95
Overflow of the Spirit - Digital Videos (MP4)

Overflow of the Spirit Digital Videos

12 sessions | 7 hours | by Mark Virkler and Charity Kayembe

Mark and Charity have teamed up again to create a training series on how to easily manifest the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. It took us several years to break through all the confusion, and present a clear, simple understanding of how to release the nine-fold manifestation of the Holy Spirit everywhere you go and with everyone you touch. It is not hard! It can’t be since these are gifts of the Holy Spirit, not things you have to work for.

Price: $49.95

Rivers of Grace Video Download

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 5 Video Sessions

You can be the parent God wants you to be: loving, encouraging, trusting and able to raise up your children in the way they should go, fulfilling their own unique destinies. Parenting was not intended to be a burden, and anyone who tells you differently has bought into a lie. You will learn to enjoy parenting as an exciting, joy-filled, divinely-ordained opportunity, not a wearying responsibility.

Price: $11.97
Spirit-Anointed Teaching Video Download

Spirit-Anointed Teaching Video Download

by Mark Virkler | 3 Sessions

Spirit-Anointed Teaching Materials designed to strengthen ALL teachers including parents, Sunday school teachers, cell group leaders, pastors and educators in every field! These materials will give you the tools to become a Spirit-anointed trainer!

“They were amazed at His teaching; He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” (Mark 1:22)

Price: $8.97

Take Charge of Your Health Video Download

by Mark Virkler | 12 Sessions | MP4 Format | Recorded November 2015

Discover how you can take charge of your own health — keeping yourself young, energetic, attractive, and free of degenerative diseases! Discover the biblical injunctions on diet and health, and the amazing correlations between them and modern scientific research. Updated in 2015 with 20 years of fresh insights since recording the previous "Go Natural" series!

Price: $49.95

Pages