The pastor at the parking desk
Today I was humbled by the beauty of humble faithfulness.
I was up at NIH visiting Patrick Kelly (he is so cheered by your prayers and visits!). As I got ready to leave the hospital, I walked up to the big desk just inside the entrance from the parking garage, to see if I could get my parking validated. The same gentleman was working there who had been there on my previous visits.
“Can I get my parking validated?” I asked him. “I just need to write the patient’s name on the back of the ticket, right?”
“Are you the patient’s family?” he asked.
“No, I’m his pastor.” (I’ll admit that I was hoping the “pastor” card would get me free parking where “friend” might not have.)
His eyes lit up and he smiled. “You’re a pastor? That’s wonderful!” He then proceeded to tell me, in accented English that I sometimes found hard to understand, how he reads his Bible every day. And then he asked, “Please, can you tell me what verse it is that says ‘you are no longer in bondage but are free’? I’ve been thinking about that verse but I don’t know where it is.”
I’ll admit this is one of my least favorite parts of the “I’m a pastor” conversation. I always fail the Bible quiz. “It’s Paul, right?” I fumble. “Here, let me see…” I reached for my purse as he reached for his desk. He produced a Bible; I produced my iPhone. (I’m sorry to say that Google often knows the Bible better than I do.) We talked and laughed as we compared verses, he looking in his Bible (an Amharic version; he’s Ethiopian) and I looking on my phone. We got a nice overview of freedom-related verses in the New Testament, but when I ultimately failed to come up with what he was looking for, he very graciously told me not to worry about it.
As I sheepishly put my phone away, he said, “You know, I have worked here for 20 years. A lot of people come here to this desk. And they are dealing with a lot of very hard things. And so I pray every day, I say, ‘God, please give me just the right word to say to them. Just the right word.'”
My eyes filled with tears. Here is a man who sits at a desk day in and day out, doing what most would consider the menial task of stamping parking tickets. But for him it is a ministry. He knows that God has put him in this place to love and pray and care for all of the many hurting people who walk through the doors of the NIH hospital. Such a faithful act of service. I left feeling so grateful that so many people who pass through those doors are being silently ministered to so faithfully every single day.
I’m looking forward to visiting Patrick again, and I hope that when I do, this gentleman is working at the desk again. I’m going to be searching my Bible between now and then. I want to be able to find him his verse.
-Erin
December 12, 2011 @ 11:19 pm
Perfect bedtime story (literally reading winding down in front of remnants of the Adventy Chat fire. Thanks for taking the time to share, Erin. Look forward to the follow-up (and Bible quiz answer).
December 13, 2011 @ 5:44 am
Wowee, what a beautiful picture of humble service…and yours, too, Erin, as you took the time to be with him, and also to admit you didn’t know the address of the verse. Thanks for sharing this story.
December 13, 2011 @ 9:14 am
“I’m sorry to say that Google often knows the Bible better than I do” – Me too. In fact, the below quotes are from Biblegateway.com:
Romans 6:16-21?
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life
John 8:31-36?
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
December 13, 2011 @ 1:28 pm
This story gently offers a moment for reflective conviction Where are some simple areas–perhaps often neglected ones–where I could grow in faithfulness? Upon receipt of customer queries? Interactions with grumpy office mates? What are the menial tasks in my day that looked at through the lens of God’s plan could be a subtle ministry of care and regard to those around me?
May we all grow in the beauty of such humble faithfulness and look a little bit more like the one who has the “appearance of jasper and carnelian.”
December 14, 2011 @ 3:59 pm
what a sweet story. How often do we need the right word but fail to ask God for it?
January 12, 2012 @ 6:13 pm
Thanks for sharing. What a wonderful example of Practicing the Presence of God.