The Well Palmdale, CA

Yesterday, Sarah and I had a great day off.  It was relaxing and fun.  We started off by grabbing a cup of coffee at a coffee shop near where we worship, and we got to play Connect Four...a great game.  As we sat there sipping our coffees and enjoying the sweet sound of the Connect Four chips hitting the table, we decided that we should head over the garden store that is also near where we worship. 

This was a place that Sarah had already been with her mom and she told me that I just had to go.  She and her mom had been going on and on about how great this place was.  They met a worker there who was extremely nice, very helpful, he enjoyed what he did, he even refused to let them carry anything...he did it.  They left the store with a few plants and some new knowledge on gardening in the desert.  Sarah kept telling me, "you'll love this place.". 

Okay...so I was looking forward to going...so we set off for this garden store.  We walked in and we were immediately greated with a smile and we continued to browse.  Well, we decided kind of what we wanted, but we had a couple questions.  It was easy to find someone to help (unlike going to the big box stores...does ANYONE work there?), and our questions were answered, so we told the guy what we wanted, he grabbed them and helped us load up our car.  We went in to pay for the couple plants we bought and realized that we needed some hedge trimmers.  We didn't see any and asked the guy who helped us for some, and he ran (literally) to the back storage and pulled some out.  They seemed like they had been sitting somehwere for quite some time.  They had a little rust and dirt on them...but their hedge trimmers...so who really cares, right?  Well, I wanted to make sure that they would work...so I asked the expert...he felt they were fine, so I paid and was getting ready to leave.  Just then another worker looked at them and decided that they were too rusty to sell.  He took them and walked around the sales room and found another pair...a better pair...with telescoping arms that cost much more than the ones already paid for.  The other worker gave them to me and said "Here...these are better."  I said, "Wow...these are nice...how much more do I owe you for them."  The other guy shook his head and told me not to worry about it.  I told him that I wanted to pay the difference, but he insisted.  I walked out the door with gardening sheers with telescoping arms at a discount price.

So you might be wondering why I'm sharing with you a story of a "great deal" and is this just an add for the local garden store?  You see, I left that store thinking a lot about The Well and last week's message about David and Goliath.  We don't need to be big.  I could have gone to a place with more selection and better prices, but I left that store wanting to go back because they were there to serve.  They saw me as a guy who needed help...not just another customer.  I felt treated as a person.  I feel that we can be the same way as a church and as Christians.  We can treat those who walk in the door, or the people we interact with daily as people who can give us something or we can view them as people that we can serve.  To be honest...when I go to a big box store...I have never left really wanting to go back.  When I left that other store...I really wanted to go back, and if I needed more plants I would have. 

God has called us to be servants...to serve others...to give to others, not because we can get something in return, but because we have already been served.  This is what will cause people to want to come back to the well and to be more engaged in our lives.  People can see your heart...we know when someone cares about us or not...and a servant heart is contageous.  The whole reason we serve as a church is because Christ has already served us.  Can you imagine...our tiny little church starting a movement of faith and servant hearts all over this valley?  I can.  I pray that The Well is a place where people can come and be served and to serve others.

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