Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.  1 Peter 4:10

Last week, I shared that I drove five hours to Iowa to sell my books at three different Christian bookstores over three days.  Although I hoped to sell several, that did not happen, but God arranged for me to meet some extraordinary people who taught me much about serving and compassion.

I wrote about how on the first day, Francine, an employee, and I bonded.  She, a tough, determined woman in her 70’s, demonstrated a work ethic I admired.  You needed a box moved?  She jumped in to help.  Books located for a potential customer, phoning in a request?  Francine scoured the store until she found the needed item.  Crates loaded and taken to another store?  In she came with her dolly. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do.

I asked Francine questions about her life.  Tough.  Growing up in poverty, she now works jobs for the three bookstores and as a security guard at night.  She had to leave work early that day, she said, because she was making dinner for her church’s youth group that met once a week.  “Would you like to speak to them?” she asked.

When I arrived at her small, country church at 6:30 that evening, I followed the noise into a cellar-type basement where six high schoolers were sitting around a table, laughing and visiting.  Gee, I thought, no cell phones.  I was thrilled by what I was witnessing.  There was Francine, dishing out the stew she had prepared and directing her teens to the homemade cookies resting on the side counter.

Melissa, a teen, volunteered to pray, and a young man, sitting with his back to me, removed his hat.  (I am old enough to be impressed.)  The prayer was sweet and sincere.

We were directed upstairs to the sanctuary area.  It was an old, yet proud, room with hardwood floors, plaster walls, an ancient piano, and this sign on the side wall.  Attendance the previous Sunday: 10.  Money collected: $101.00.  Think about that.  Some pastor, every week, prepares a sermon for 10 people.  One of those 10 probably leads worship.  But they continue, week after week, to do God’s work. Wow!

Francine was a huge part of this church’s survival.  As it turned out, she also, for 27 years, had made cookies for the Blood Bank, and this, my final day “selling” my books in their third store, also was the beneficiary of her benevolence.  She was the one who served cider and her cookies to patrons…the same patrons who avoided me at all costs.  Still, she did her best.  “I want you to meet our visiting author who has come all the way from Kansas,” she said, proudly. “I’ve bought five of her books, four as presents.  I’m on Chapter five of her book, and it’s great.”  I later told her that I needed to hire her as my agent.

We need more Christians like Francine, people who are willing to do whatever it takes to help others succeed.  It wasn’t about numbers.  Every single person she met deserved to be valued.  I left Iowa, not with many book sales, but with clear understanding why I had gone there: to know that God wants my faith to grow.  As usual, He worked in ways I never expected.