The Well Palmdale, CA

Yesterday, Sarah and I thought it would be good to give her brother-in-law, Micah, a good L.A. experience since he's visiting from out of town.  We decided that a trip to L.A. wouldn't be complete without a visit to Pink's.  For those of you who don't know Pink's is a hot dog place that has been around since the 30's.  It's known for delicious dogs with crazy toppings, and celebrity sightings.  The dogs are delicious and just writing about them gets me in the mood for another.  Well, it was a beautiful day and the line was long.  We finally got our lunch (I opted for the "Ozzy" dog with guacamole, nacho cheese, bacon, tomato, grilled onion on a spicy Polish dog...yes...I'm sure your mouth is watering as you read this).  Well we got our dogs and fries and we sat down at one of the tables outside to enjoy our food and a little sunshine.  Before we chowed down we prayed for God to bless our food as we always do.  We never make a spectacle about it because we don't want to be like the Pharisees who prayed in public so that nobody who observes it feels like were just trying to make ourselves look pious.  But it's still important so we don't want to neglect giving thanks to the one who gave us the food in the first place.

Well, we prayed (and to be honest, I think that my prayers were more geared towards asking God to perform some sort of miracle that my lunch might have some sort of nutritional value along with blessing it), and then we continued on with our lunch.  As we began to finish up the lady who sat next to us came up to our table and said with a sense of awkwardness and fear in her voice, "I noticed that you all prayed before you ate." We answered, "Yes".  She looked at me and said that she just got off the phone with a dear friend of hers up in the Seattle area.  She said that her friend's daughter who is 12 was just diagnosed this week with Leukemia.  The woman was, honestly, extremely nervous just asking us and shaken up by the news.  We asked a couple more questions about the situation and then I prayed for the young girl (Autumn) and for this lady (who's name we never got).  

She thanked us and went on her way.  After it happened so much was going through my brain.  I was thankful that we were there and that she asked us to pray for this young girl.  Prayer is such a powerful thing that God has given us.  It really made me think about not only the power of prayer but how everyone needs it.  We were in the middle of the Hollywood/West Hollywood area...a place not known for a plethora of Christians.  Pink's is a place where people expect to eat a delicious hot dog and maybe get the chance to see a celebrity...not find strength and peace from God.  Regardless, that is what happened yesterday afternoon.  Someone who, I'm sure, just came to Pink's for a bite, and left with encouragement from the God of the universe.  It reassures me that God is at work everywhere...and that He is needed everywhere even in those places where nobody really wants to think about spiritual matters...His relevance to the lives of every man, woman, and child never fades.  It also reminded me that we, as Christians, need never be ashamed of who we are and what God has to offer.  I don't know if this woman was Christian or not...regarldess the Spirit was working on her heart in that moment to seek out answers and comfort from Him.  She didn't know I was pastor...she didn't need to.  She just needed someone to pray for her and for this girl.  I hope that we can all be ready when some stranger in a strange place asks us for us to pray for another stranger.  It's really the beauty of the Holy Spirit.  We've each been given the same Spirit and have the same living God working through each of us.  I hope you each have the joy and honor to have such a strange...and such a powerful random encounter.   

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