Jesus at Home Depot

    I'm not nearly as good as I'd like to think I am.
     Yesterday I arrived at the San Carlos Home Depot at about 3 pm.  I usually avoid that store - I find it confusing and overwhelming. bit I was i search of good buys for our kitchen remodel.  And thought the point of my story is not this, I will say I did receive some good service from the kitchen department.
    I ended up staying there an hour longer than I I'd expected. When I got to the cashier lines at 4 pm I walked by a line with three people who each had many items in their carts only to the find the next three were closed and the following line was self-serve. I only do self-serve at the gas station.
    I turned my cart around to take a place in that long line and saw another woman approaching that line's end also. I triumphed - I got in position in front of her.
    After twenty minutes or so, a cashier came to open register just to the left. She asked, "Who's next?"  I asked the man in front of me if he'd like to go there. He shrugged. His turn was coming soon.
    The woman behind me who was close to the place opening up then said, "I can go in there" and looked at me for confirmation of her offer.
    "But I'm next. I should go in front."  At this point in the story  a cock should have crowed.
    "You cut in front of me in line," said the woman I'd beat to a place in line. Now her irritation showed.
    "Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."  That's whet I wish I had said.  Instead, "If that's how you perceive it, then go ahead."
    She shook her head and frowned and I could see the wheels rolling and realized, for the first time, that this woman was from another culture, one where people take pride in being gentle and deferring to others. "Another rude, pushy American."  She didn't say it, she was too polite, just as she had politely let me beat her to the initial place in line.
    Jesus' words keep ringing in my mind about taking the lower place at a dinner, not seeking to be first. I let the values of my culture dictate: get it done fast!  get and grab all you can before someone else does! I was not representative of Jesus and his gentle ways.