The Wedding Invitation That Changed My Life

This post is about how God sets into motion circumstances that change our lives.  It is how He uses other people to lead us to Him through grace.

When my oldest child was born, 6 1/2 years ago, I was successfully selling real estate and making a lot of money, working late nights and every weekend, and not practicing my faith. I got fed up with it all when I missed my daughters 1st birthday because I had to drive across town to show a home to a young couple who ended up ditching me anyway and the deal ended up falling through. I was not able to spend the day as I had planned with my little princess, firstborn, who had just turned one. I was devastated.

Eventually I started sending out resumes in order to obtain a job that was Monday through Friday, in the hopes that I could enjoy the weekends and evenings with my husband and daughter. I knew I would have to take a pay cut, but I didn't care.

I got a call from a company that I was not particularly interested in. It was far from home. I'm not even sure why I went to the interview. I already decided when I walked in that I wasn't going to work there. I didn't like it. They sent me home with an application, which I never filled out, and I never mailed it back to them. I wasn't interested.

Then they called. They wanted to hire me.

I said I wasn't interested. I let the application collect dust on the counter.

A couple weeks later I received an offer of employment from this company. It was for over $25k per year more than the other job offers I had received.

When they called again I tried to gracefully decline, using my current job as an "excuse" because I had some closings I wanted to see to completion in the next couple of months. They told me I could work part time and set my own schedule, they were completely flexible. They literally made it impossible for me to say no! I agreed to start on Valentine's Day and work 2 days a week to "test the waters".

At this place, I was in an alien environment. IT WAS A COMPLETE RADICAL SHIFT FROM WHAT I WAS USED TO.  I went from working with a bunch of women who drove very expensive cars, got their weekly manicures, lived in McMansions, and dressed very fashionable. Now I was working with a bunch of computer nerds who talked about jet engines, the inner workings of compilers, and an awful lot about the bible...

What a bunch of GEEKS!

 

That was all I could think at first as I just kept to myself and tried to adjust.

Now for the God part... it didn't take me too long to realize that everyone around me in my row of cube-mates was Catholic. (Well, one guy was Russian Orthodox, but he was off site most of the time, so I'm not counting him.)  But seriously folks, I'm talking the-most-devout-Catholics-I-had-never-met-before-Catholic. I was surrounded by 3 people in my row, and 3 others that would come over from other rows to talk to the people in my location, for a total of 6 completely practicing and devout Catholics hovering near by on a daily basis.  I tried hard to ignore them all.

But the people who sat by me, were just so nice...

I was very surprised when one of the gentleman asked me for my address.

"Why?" I wanted to know, always suspicious.

"So I can invite you to my daughter's wedding." 

"But you don't even know me!" was all I could say...

"Well, sure I do. Come on, it will be a good time. We would love to have you there."

So, I reluctantly gave him my address. And when I received the beautiful formal wedding invitation in the mail my bad attitude turned downright horrible when a small card fell out of the RSVP envelope, and it said this:

Our Wedding Ceremony is being held in a Traditional Roman Catholic Church. In honor of the Blessed Sacrament, we request that no sleeveless dresses be worn and that all women please cover their heads. (Veils will be provided.) Thank you.
 

I grimaced and gawked. My mouth hanging open in disbelief. I mean, this actually offended me. Blinded with pride, I called my sister and read her the invitation and we laughed at it. I jokingly told her, "I don't even OWN a dress that has sleeves. There is no way I'm wearing a stinking veil. I am NOT going to this wedding."

I RSVP'd "No" and told my co-worker that we were going to be out of town that weekend.

He smiled and said genuinely, "I'm so sorry to hear that. But... we will see you at the next wedding then. It will probably be next year." (My last thought was... Good grief, this guy has 7 kids and 5 daughters. Please don't invite me, I am going to have to come up with another excuse to decline...)   

But God had other plans.

To Be Continued... click here

 

"Mommy, Who are those people at Chick-Fil-A?"

On Saturday mornings we have swim lessons with our girls and usually eat at Panera afterwards. This past weekend, we were enjoying our normal routine, but on the way back home, we noticed a crowd of people hanging out and holding gay pride signs and protesting at our local Chick-Fil-A. I made my husband do a U-Turn and drive into the parking lot.  No, we were not hungry! We drove right past the small group of people, mostly teenagers and a few adults, holding signs and waving to cars. I wanted to show my support to Chick-Fil-A! We drove through the drive-thru and bought ice cream cones for the kids. They were happy.

I have always loved Chick-Fil-A for these reasons:

#1, They have darn good food! Really, I love their chicken.

#2, They are closed on Sundays, out of respect for "The Lord's Day".

#3, A great Christian environment, they usually are playing Christian music in the background when we visit our local store.

#4, Our Chick-Fil-A has a toddler play area and slide, and my kids LOVE it.

#5, The family nights on Tuesday are great... crafts and fun activities for the kids at our local Chick-Fil-A.

#6, They are always promoting positivity in our neighborhood... they give free chicken sandwiches out on Election Day, if you vote. They are always passing out free chicken coupons for local teachers, and offer children free rewards for accomplishing their "summer reading" challenges at the library, etc.

#7, Their store environment is really clean, and their staff is extremely courteous. I love the "It is My Pleasure", after every "Thank you."...

When I heard that President, Dan Cathy, made a public statement in support of Traditional Marriage between a man and a woman, (reminds me of when John McCain appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show back in 2008), I was grateful to have another voice speaking out in favor of Traditional Marriage. Chick-Fil-A doesn't have anything against homosexuals... and Cathy is certainly entitled to hold the views that he does. Our Chick-Fil-A was gracious to the protesters and was handing out water and cookies to them.  I heard about the planned "Kiss-Ins" where homosexual couples were planning to "crash" Chick-Fil-A's last Friday and start making out inside the restaurants. Thank goodness that was not going on here and with this particular crowd. It was all pretty civilized.

My 6 year old, of course, wanted to know why they were there, so I took a deep breath and explained that God created the sacrament of marriage to be between a man and a woman. Just like in the Bible. We reminded her that even though we are Catholic Christians, many other people in the world have different view points and they do not necessarily think the way we do or follow what the Bible says. The people standing in the street are not bad people, but they have different views than we do. We follow God's rules. A man and a man can't be married. They can be friends, but they can't make babies together. This simple explanation made sense to her, and she didn't seem phased by it all, thank goodness. This is difficult to talk about when friends and co-workers are gay and are terrific individuals. I try to imagine what it would feel like if I were in their shoes, or if my child was. Maybe I would feel differently. If I were homosexual and Catholic, I would be called to a life of celibacy and chastity, not unlike unmarried heterosexuals are. OK, I know... this is not exactly a popular view point. I struggle when reading Romans 1:18-32 and reconciling the growing trend of society pushing the agenda that Traditional Marriage between a man and a woman is in someway out-dated, unnecessary, un-sacramental, and optional.

Does anyone have any personal thoughts to share on your local Chick-Fil-A in light of recent events?