Blessings at a Car Wash

Sometimes it's the random occurrences in unexpected places that stay with us the longest. This morning I was in the Hummer on my way home from a morning workout at the beach. I passed a couple kids on the side of the road holding signs reading,

"FREE CAR WASH...really! no donations allowed!"

I didn't believe it, but I decided to turn around and check it out it for two reasons, 1) 'Petunia' my precious white Hummer was sorely in need of a bath, and 2) I'm a sucker for a school car washes and the opportunity to help the little darlings raise money for whatever they need.

They wave me in like deckhands on an aircraft carrier and I glide Petunia into our designated slot. They greet with me with smiles and suggest I take a seat in one of the chairs under a nearby tree while they get to work. I ask what group this is benefiting and am surprised to find out that the car wash is a monthly service project of Calvary Chapel, a local mega-church that has grown over the years from a handful of people meeting in a warehouse to literally thousands that meet on their main campus and several satellite locations around town. I not so subtly fingered the small cross at my neck hoping to signal that the proselytizing wasn't necessary. And after a quick question asking what church I attended, and an assurance that they really wouldn't accept my donation, the subject changed to general conversation.

We discussed my upcoming move and my doubts and quite frankly my fears about going into the unknown and not being sure that I was selecting the right place. We talked about faith and the assurance that surely God did have a plan for my life and would open or close doors, as I moved forward. (I think that's the key, that perhaps God can help us best when we take the initiative first, you know that old physics equation about momentum.) The woman offered to pray for me. We held hands and bowed our heads.

Later, I was struck that although I was the one who stopped hoping to bless someone, it was actually me, who was blessed.