"Eat, Drink and Get Diabetes"

Ok, so a little background here. My wife and I are directors of an inner-city Community Center. Because of this, we often buy large quantities of certain items to be distributed at the Center. This has the potential of making us look a little . . . odd at the checkout counter.




So, I pick up bread from a local grocery store each week in order to give it away to individuals and families at the Center. I have discovered something in this process: One of the best ways to attract the attention of the general public is to buy a cart full of bread. Believe me, it works every time.

It seems that everyone has something funny to say. Everyone is the comedian. Here’s the deal, I know I look like a dweeb with a hundred loaves of bread in the cart - so, I let them have their fun and I try to have a little too.

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Cashier: “Wow, what are you going to do with all of this bread?” 

Me: “It’s weird. I’ve just been craving toast lately! I just can’t get enough of the stuff!”

Cashier: “Looks like somebody’s a little hungry today. You like bread?” 

Me: “No. It’s just that I’m running a marathon tomorrow so I’m carb loading. You guys didn’t have enough pasta.”

Cashier: “What?!! Hey Carl, check out how much bread this guy is buyin’!! Dude is craaazy!!” 

Me: “You think this is crazy - You should see how much peanut butter I’ve got in my car right now!”

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So it’s fun, right? Each week, it goes something like this. But one week in particular stands out for me.

Ok. So, I go in and get the bread and approach the counter as usual. There are two ladies behind the counter. One lady is the cashier and one is ready to bag the bread. The ladies both give a polite, “hello” - Then, both ladies survey the mountain of bread in my cart. Both ladies speak English, but not as their native language. They are from Bosnia. They begin speaking to each other about me . . . and my bread, in Bosnian. I don’t speak Bosnian, but I know what they are saying. As they talk, and scan and bag the bread, they shift their glances from me, to my bread, to each other and back to me again.

It’s fully appearent that they are having a great time. Again, I can’t blame them . . . I’m sure I look like a moron.

They are having so much fun, I just hate that I can’t join in on the fun with them . . . or can I?

Ok, so I’ve already mentioned that I don’t speak Bosnian. I do, however, know several Bosnian Refugees who have been kind enough to teach me a few words in their language.

At the conclusion of our transaction (and their conversation). . . I turn to both ladies and I say, “Hvala.” (which means ‘Thank you’ in Bosnian)

At first, their response was great. Excitement! Their eyes lit up as they recognized a familiar phrase. But it wasn’t the first response that I was waiting for. The first response was sweet and nostalgic. The second was born from a deeper place. It was instinctual.

The second response was . . . panic. And it was awesome!

They immediately started wondering, “How much Bosnian does this guy know?” “How much did he just hear us say?” They were quickly replaying the conversation in their minds to see what they should have edited.

I didn’t stay around for any more dialogue; I just took my bread and waved bye.

I still do not really know what they were saying, but they don’t know that. What I do know is that for many months to come . . . they were my new best friends. Every time I came into the store, they were there waiting with a smile. A nervous, “he knows what we said” smile. It was great. A friendship was born.

Life is fun.

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Life is also tough. It can be difficult. For many of us, it seems that there is some type of pain or disappointment waiting for us around one corner or the next. Even in the absence of pain and dissapointment - life, for some, is just . . . dull. Some far off type of abundant life just seems . . . out of reach.

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It is recorded that Jesus said in John 10:10 that He has come to bring us the abundant life. Is me laughing at the grocery store what He was talking about? No, but it is part of it. Life is meant to be lived . . . to the full. We have to recognize life when we see it though. We have to be willing to connect with others . . . ready to laugh. Another portion of Scripture says that we should, “Eat, Drink and Be Merry.”

Let’s do that, but let’s just not eat a full cart of bread to do it. That would be, “Eat, Drink and get Diabetes.” A friend of mine told me today that they don’t laugh as much as they used to . . . not if I can help it.

We should take advantage of the mundane. We should laugh at ourselves. We should laugh at all of the stupid things that we do each day (don’t pretend that you don’t do stupid things). We should look for every opportunity to enjoy life. Laugh...even if it’s at me.

I hope picturing me and a million loaves of bread has brought you a little happiness today. I hope you can picture the look on the faces of my “two friends”. I hope you can find a way to laugh today.

Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think - I love to hear your comments. And, oh yeah . . .

“Hvala”

JJ