"There just aren't many nice people up here."

     People in Northern Virginia that know me the best know that I love California Tortilla. It first opened in Fair Lakes last time I lived here. Let me just tell you how much I love it.... I was gone for FIVE YEARS and two of the ladies that still work there remembered me and wondered what had happened to me. Now when I go in I don't even have to order. Oh, and don't expect your burrito to be as good as mine. I know I get double the meat (I only get chicken and cheese to start with.) I also always get my chicken freshly cooked so it's nice and hot and melts all the cheese they put on my burrito. There is something disappointing about biting into a nice hot burrito with clumps of cold cheese...but I digress. I always ask them how their day is going and things, and make sure I smile. (I think one of them is pregnant but I think I'll wait a few weeks before I ask about that.)
    
     Anyway, I was eating dinner there tonight and reading The Irresistible Revolution when a lady came in with two boys, probably 6 and 3. Did I mention this lady was on crutches? Yeah, with two little boys. The oldest one was putting his lid on his very full kiddie cup and SLIP>>>>> Cherry Hi-C EVERYWHERE! She was frustrated, but held it together quite nicely (I would have given up and been in tears most likely.) Another lady in the restaurant and I jumped up and got napkins and started cleaning it up. She was in total shock. I got another set of wet napkins so it wouldn't be sticky. She said thank you and we both said it was no problem at all, to which she replied, "There just aren't many nice people up here." I think that is the saddest thing I have heard in a long time.

     It doesn't take much to be nice. For me it took no money and about two minutes of my day. I don't think she meant that the people up here are mean. Mean is not the automatic default of not nice. A mean person would have knocked the kids drink over or yelled at the lady for letting her kid spill his drink. No, not being nice is more just being selfish, pretending not to notice, or deciding someone else will take care of it. But it's not just the greater society that isn't always nice, it's also the church.

     That's right, I said it. A lot of times people that claim to be disciples of Christ aren't nice. I'll admit it, sometimes I am not nice. Shame on me! Some of us can't even be nice when we are in the building! How can Christians expect non-believers to even take a look at our Savior if we can't even be nice? God wants more than for us to be nice though! He wants us to go waaaaay beyond nice. He literally wants us to become a servant to others! In I Corinthians 9:19 Paul says, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible." Slavery by choice, now that's a backward concept that makes no sense to us, save Jesus.

    Practical application... this one is hard now..... BE NICE! Even though it is just skimming the surface of what we are commanded to do, it goes a long way, not just for those we are being nice to, but also to those that witness it.



Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.  James 1:27