The Big Question at McDonald's

"So teach us to number our days

   that we may get a heart of wisdom."

Psalm 90:12

     Clouds began to gather over the expansive Indiana sky south of Indianapolis.  The small town pastor and his family were traveling to Louisville after an extended visit with friends near Marion.  The kids were tired after a few hours of driving and dad decided an ice cream cone from McDonald's could certainly brighten everyone's spirits for the final ninety minutes to their next stop.

     A few drops of rain hit the pastor's head as he helped his youngest son from the van.  His wife and kids were already inside.  It didn't take long for everyone to give their requests to dad.  A nice lady was working the front counter and efficiently took the ice cream order--four ice cream cones, one strawberry sundae and a plain cup of ice cream.

     The pastor's oldest son had on a Georgia Bulldog shirt and the nice lady at the counter asked the pastor, "Are you and your family from Georgia?"

     "Yes, we live in south Georgia about two hours south of Atlanta?"

     She smiled.  "Are you near Macon?"

     "Yes.  About an hour South."

     "I lived in Macon for nearly three years but moved back here to Indiana four years ago."

     The pastor was taking a request from his youngest daughter.  "No honey, you can not have fries, just the ice cream.  Have you worked here long?"

     "Yes, about a month after I moved back."

     The nice lady delivered all the ice cream to the pastor and his family and they quickly found seats in the corner.  After a bit, the pastor was finishing up his ice cream cone and saw the nice lady cleaning up around the drink fountain.  As she wiped up spilled soda,  he got a sense that he should go and speak with her.  The pastor, who didn't always feel comfortable talking with strangers, got up and walked towards the lady.  He wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to say.

     "So tell me, why did you move to Georgia?"

     With a smile, "Oh, I met the most wonderful man.  He was a truck driver and he asked me to marry him.  We lived in Macon and had a wonderful life together."  Suddenly, the nice lady's expression changed.  "He started having some heart trouble.  Eventually, he had a massive heart attack and he died.  It was so hard because he was so good to me.  My friends around here couldn't believe I had left the only place I had ever lived, my grand kids and my children, to move to Georgia with him.  He would take me fishing at the lake nearby and down near Jacksonville at the ocean.  We traveled together when he drove his truck.  He always made me laugh.  I think I laughed more in the three years that we were married than I did my entire life.  I had been married before but my first husband was so cruel.  I thought I would  never love another man again but when I met him..."  Her voice trailed off as tears began to come.

     "I'm so sorry to hear that," the pastor said.

     "When I moved back here.  Well...all I do is work, eat and sleep.  I don't even feel like I am really living but just going through the motions of life.  My daughter and some of my best friends told me when I would ask why did this happen that God must have a reason.  I tell you what, I haven't known what that reason is.  I have been so sad and angry and depressed for four years just not knowing what to do about."  The lady paused and looked at the pastor in the eye.  "You're the first person I have talked about this ever.  I just felt like I needed to tell you.  Why do you think my husband died?"

     Without absolute clarity, the pastor was immediately struck by Psalm 90:12.  With as much love and tenderness as he could muster, he told the lady, "Your husband died because we don't live forever.  Our lives are limited and we do not have an unlimited supply of tomorrows.  God wants us to recognize that everyday we have is a gift.  When we recognize this, he says that we are growing in wisdom.  We have life because of him. He is forever but our lives in this world are not."

     The lady's eyes brightened as she dabbed them with a napkin she had taken from the dispenser.  "You're right.  We don't live forever.  I have forgotten that everyday is a gift."

     The pastor asked the lady, "Are you a follower of Jesus?  Are you a Christian?"

     Nodding her head, "Yes, but I have not wanted to go back to church.  I haven't been able to handle everyone saying it was going to be o.k. and that they were praying for me.  But somehow, that seems the good thing to do now."

     "I bet your pastor and the people of the church want to love on you and support you through this hard time."

     The lady smiled.  "Yes, I know they will.  I need to get back there this Sunday.  I've got to get back to the counter but how interesting that you and I talked about this.  I would have never dreamed that this would happen.  I somehow think that things are going to be better.  I feel so..."  The nice lady smiled again.

     "Let me pray for you before you go back to the counter."

     Right there by the soda fountain, the pastor prayed for the nice lady that worked at McDonald's.  They hugged and she went back to work behind the counter.  The pastor and his wife loaded their kids up in the van and drove off to Louisville.

Rodney Bradford, Arabi Baptist Church

Psalms Help Us Answer the Big Questions

Everyone has big questions.  As a pastor, I have had the distinct privilege of people asking me their big questions.  They have been asked in the hallway of a hospital.  They have been asked standing beside a coffin.  They have been asked on a boat while fishing.  They have been asked behind pick up trucks, on front porches, at kitchen tables, on hiking trails, during beach retreats and on living room couches.  The big questions often come out of the ashes of a tragedy or a hurt or an unexpected experience.  The big questions come when someone has been shaken to the very core of their being.  The big questions challenge everything a person thought they believed.  The big questions are the ones reveal the foundation upon which a person stands.


So how have I answered the big questions?


I always try to give the honest truth.  The biblical truth.  The truth that we have revealed to us about God and our lives and our experiences in the word.


When I answer the big questions, I have learned that I do not have to defend God.  Oh, I have empathized with people in their hurts.  It hurts when someone you love unexpectedly dies.  It hurts when you have been mistreated by someone who claims to be a Jesus follower.  It hurts when a dream dies.  It hurts when a spouse walks out.  It hurts when you thought those that were friends are not.  It hurts when you tried to do everything right and it turns out so wrong.


Often I direct people with big questions, especially for people who are hurting, toward the Psalms. The Psalms give us perspective when our vision in limited.  The Psalms cry out for us when we do not know how to cry out.  The Psalms remind us of the difficult things.  The Psalms cause us to consider the things that we would rather forget.  The Psalms give us light.


Over the years, it has been a powerful thing to watch a person who has struggled through a big question and then see them go to the Psalms and watch God do His mighty work.  Sometimes, as a person comes out on the other side of the big question it is in a different place than they might have thought.  Is the pain any less hard?  Is the experience any less difficult to face?  The Psalms are used of God to lead us to the place that we need not necessarily what we thought we wanted.


In the darkest of days and when it seems the weight of our big question will crush us, we find a Psalm at just the right time that has exactly what we need.


If there is one thing I have learned, it is that in the midst of our big question we find--in the Psalms--that God is bigger than our question yet oh so close!


Rodney Bradford, Arabi Baptist Church