What was I Doing?

Thankfully Our Lunch Crowd is not this Large!

Savannah College of Arts and Design International Students Festival

2 April 2011

1 Samuel 9:27 NIV
"As they were going down to the edge of the town, Samuel said to Saul, "Tell the servant to go on ahead of us"--and the servant did so--"but you stay here awhile, so that I may give you a message from God."

Lunch duty is a daily chore I endure each day with two compatriots. We protect the lunch staff from stampeding teenagers eager to storm the buffet lines.

My job is to work logistics inside the lunchroom as my fellow teachers hold back the impatient, hungry students at the door. 

The teacher inside the room with me waits for me to give permission to send small groups of kids to my lines. We have to control the crowd or else we will have "line jumpers," and then two hundred hungry teens will not be happy with us.

I'm in charge of two fast food lines. Every other day chicken sandwiches or hamburgers and cheeseburgers are served on a rotating basis. Cheese pizza is a daily staple as well as fruit and veggies. Fries are also offered on this line.

The students I supervise are to split into two neat lines--a front line and a back line. Two lines. Very simple.

However, what ends up happening is groups of students meander slowly toward me as they socialize with their friends. They ignore my outstreched arm directing them into the line moving forward the fastest, and instead, they bunch up like rafters on the lazy river at the water park at a fork in the road.

I holler over the thunder of their yells, clattering trays, and clanging cash registers, "Move up, others are waiting to eat." They ignore me. 

I try again. "MOVE UP!"  A girl flips her hair off her eyes, so I can see her roll them at me. She fixes her gaze upon me as she announces,  "You don't have to yell!" 

Ugh. 

Eight minutes is all we need to efficiently move these kids along, but they are not to be rushed. Then they complain they don't have enough time to eat. Go figure.

I'm sure God has never felt that way about me before. I'm sure He has never had to raise His voice at me to get my attention to move me forward in life.

As a matter of fact. I know better. 

He has such a sense of humor about it, too.

I'll complain to Him about something (just like a teenager) and then I'll see a car with a smiley face on its window drive by me as if He's telling me, "Yeah, so what--deal with it. I have faith in you. Now stop whining."

I've seen versions of my name on trucks and bumper stickers at just the appropriate moments, and of course, I see rainbows when I need them most.

God does what He can to move me forward. Otherwise, I easily get distracted and unfocused like those teens around food and their friends.

They forget their goal is to eat lunch. 

Sometimes I forget what my goals are, too. God reminds me.
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Thank you Lord for helping me move forward in life.