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This is 19 year old Joey Prusak, a manager at a Hopkins, MN Dairy Queen. Tuesday, a week ago, a regular customer, a man visually impaired, came into his store and dropped a $20 bill. An elderly female customer picked up the bill and put it in her pocket.
Joey served the man and, when the female who picked up the money tried to place her order, Joey asked her to return the $20 bill.
According to the TheBlaze.com:
Prusak took matters into his own hands.
“She walked up to the counter and I asked her to please return the $20 bill to the gentleman. She looked at me like ‘what are you talking about,’” Prusak said, recounting the incident to TheBlaze. “I asked her again to return it and she said, ‘No, it’s mine I just dropped it.’ I told her I’m not going to serve you if you are going to be disrespectful as you are stealing someone’s money like that.”
The woman then allegedly became disorderly and began cursing at Prusak, who remained both firm and polite.
“She started getting really angry … started swearing and whatnot. I stayed relatively calm; I deal with customers on a daily basis. She kept swearing though and I asked her to leave the store. I told her if you aren’t going to return the money, you need to leave right now.”
She then “stormed out,” Prusak said.
“What happened next I would have never expected,” an anonymous customer wrote to Dairy Queen, which was later posted on Reddit, sending the story viral. “Your employee approached the young man and took out his wallet and said, ‘Sir, on behalf of Dairy Queen, I would like to give you the $20 that you happened to drop on the ground as you walked away from the counter.’”
“I was in shock by the generosity that your employee had, taking his own money out of his own wallet to give to the customer because some other lady decided to steal something that wasn’t hers,” the customer continued in the letter.
Prusak said it was the right thing to do.
Well, this boy is all over the news for doing the right thing!
I guess that’s the world we live in.
Years ago, when I was a Methodist, before I was immersed through grace to become a Southern Baptist, I attended a church study group. An older gentleman in the group was convinced the world was coming to an end based on all the bad things happening in the world. I told him that bad things have always happened in the world, we just see more of them today.
Occasionally, we even get to see the good things in the world…
God wants good things for us.
This lesson started out as a discussion of love and I believe through Jesus we have a new covenant with the father based on love. But, anyone who speaks publicly or preaches, or teaches Sunday School goes through a process to write a speech or develop a sermon, or create a lesson. For Christians that involves prayer and soul searching and listening for the Holy Spirit to nudge you in one direction or another. For me, it also requires a lot of research. As those of you who try and share with the class know, what you want to say, and where God takes you in the process, are sometimes two different things.
Pastor Mike’s lessons on worship and how we worship and why we are called to worship as well as our lessons here, from Scott, and our discussions on serving others within our Sunday School class have weighed on me this week. So, I start out looking at “love” in my Life Application Bible and on line and I’m led to Romans 12: 9-21:
“ 9 Don't just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically. 12 Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful. 13 When God's children are in need, be the one to help them out. And get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, if they need lodging, for the night. 14 If people persecute you because you are a Christian, don't curse them; pray that God will bless them. 15 When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their sorrow. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don't try to act important, but enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all! 17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible. 19 Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written, "I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it," says the Lord. 20 Instead, do what the Scriptures say: "If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink, and they will be ashamed of what they have done to you." 21 Don't let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good.” NLT
Just getting to Romans 12: 9-21 wasn’t enough . . . I had to put that into context so I had to back up to verses 1-8:
“1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice -- the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? 2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. 3 As God's messenger, I give each of you this warning: Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ's body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others. 6 God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you. 7 If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” NLT
What do I find out about Romans 12? Well, I find that Romans was written by Paul to both Jews and Gentiles in Rome. It is an outline for living a Christian live and is as relevant for us today as when Paul wrote it to the Roman Church.
As we search for ways our class can learn to share our problems with one another and love each other better; be better Christians generally, Paul gives us this outline in Romans 12.
• Give yourself to God daily – think of what Christ has done for you and give sacrificially
• Don’t fall into the traps of this world and allow God to change you by changing the way you think
• Be honest with yourself
• Find your gift and give back
• Don’t just pretend to love others – really love them – genuinely love
• Stand up to what is wrong
• Work hard and be patient in hardship
• Keep praying
• Help God’s people
• Be hospitable
• Don’t curse people, bless them
• Share sorrow and happiness with others
• Live harmoniously with people, enjoy their company
• Don’t be a know it all
• NEVER pay back evil to anyone, live honorable
• Live in peace with others
• NEVER avenge yourselves, leave that to God
• If your enemies are hungry feed them
• Don’t let evil get the best of you, conquer evil by doing good
19 year old Joey Prusak seems to have it about right.
