For the Love of Money

I took this picture after one fine evening of work as a waitress at one of my former jobs last year. This, my dear friends, is two "francs". That is what they call a dollar in Switzerland. An old buddy of mine who was a foreign exchange student at our school back in 2010 came back to visit and tipped me this beautiful coin I never knew existed. I just figured I'd share that tidbit of information with you as I am about to tell you one of the coolest things God has shown me about money since I moved back home. Hold on to your bums, 'cause it's story time.

When I moved back home to Texas recently, I temporarily got a job as a waitress again just to earn some extra cash before moving on to becoming an unofficially official interior designer. Anywho, it was just another day of work as any other day, when all of a sudden...one of my fellow waiters realized that a fifty-dollar bill that he received from a customer was in fact a fraud. It had no watermark--no legal legitimacy at all! And you see, when a waiter at this workplace loses money, he has to pay back the company with the tips he worked very hard to earn. You know what that means, don't you? Right. Because of this unforeseen and very unfortunate fraud, this innocent employee's pocket just got robbed fifty dollars.

Now the story takes a bit of turn, you see. As I was watching this unfold, I felt so sorry for my fellow waiter that I thought to myself, "I will work extra hard my last few hours so I can give him some of my tips." Yes, yes...it was a very kind-hearted thought. But something happened, and I found myself in one of the hardest tests I've ever taken.

This waiter and another man with authority over me advised me that if I received a fifty or hundred-dollar bill from a customer, that I should come to them before I gave the change away. So I did what I was told. Several minutes later, I came to them with a hundred from one of my customers because I thought they would check it for fraud. But that wasn't the case.

"Here," said the waiter and the other. "Take this change to your customer." I looked at it, counted it, and realized the change was twenty dollars short.

"This isn't the correct change," I quickly justified.

"Yeah I know," said the other man. "I just feel bad for this guy losing his tip money like that so we're trying to help him out."

It certainly didn't take me long to respond, "That's not right at all."

"It wasn't right that I lost fifty dollars!" Said the waiter.

I realized that I was standing in a very, very sticky situation. "Yucky", as I would call it. Because it just made me feel yucky. But I knew the right answer.

"I know it wasn't right," I said calmly. "But it's not right to cheat a customer. My customer. I'm not going to do that to him."

"Do you know him?" Said the other.

"No."

"Then why do you care?"

"Because he's my customer and I care about my customers."

"Okay, I understand," said the waiter. "I'll just do it for you then."

"No." I sternly rejected, but tried to remain compassionate. "I'm sorry, but I am taking the correct change to my customer." And so I did. My customer was completely and entirely unaware of anything that had just taken place. He looked so innocent, and though to some people a twenty-dollar bill is a small sacrifice, to me at that moment it meant the whole world. I even counted the change for him, which I don't ever take time doing. It's just, I felt my heart grow so big for this innocent man that it overwhelmed me as I was walking back to the desk.

Then God brought something back to mind, a prayer I had said on the way to work that afternoon that I had never prayed before: "God, I want to bless my customers as if You were the one blessing them."

And then God spoke to me as clear as day, "Allison, you passed a huge test. I am so proud of you."


Dear friends, I'm sharing this story with you as a testimony so that you can learn what I did and run with it.

Wherever you're at, whoever is watching you or not...always, ALWAYS...do the right thing.

And you will never say you've never lived a fine, fine life.

Dreams Don't Turn to Dust

There's not much to look at in Texas. So there's not much to say about it, other than it's a little warmer than Canada, and a little more dry, as told by the picture above.

So I haven't posted a blog in a long while because for the past two or three weeks I've moved back home, taking a long detour from Manitoba all the way west to Alberta, and then down south to Texas from there, and am still settling down. Normally I could unpack all my things in a day, but it seems I've still got piles of stuff all over my room and outside my door like I packed all of Manitoba inside my suitcase.

I know people who keep up with my blog and desire to know more about me are curious as to how life's been going back in Texas again since I've been here for a whole week already, so now I am going to attempt to explain.

The very first day I arrived back home (May 9th), I was called for jury duty the next day. Those of you who are not entirely aware of what jury duty is, it's where about 120 random people are ordered into a courtroom where only 12 are picked to be real juries in a real court case. But to explain it simply, this is about as American as it gets.

I'm explaining this because I found it absolutely hilarious that I have been Canadian for so long, and as soon as I get back home, I am bound to be more American than I have ever been in my entire life! In fact, I had to recite the American Pledge of Allegiance  in which I found it hard to remember already! So in my head, it went a little something like this...

"I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United Provinces of Canada, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and hockey for all."

...To make a long story short, I was rarely chosen to be one of the 12 in a real jury box for a real court case where I was the youngest (by a longshot). I learned a lot of things the next two days and, as the foreman (the leader of the jury) told me, I grew up pretty fast.

Aside from being on jury, I was finally able to reconnect with one of my closest friends, Maggie. This is a friend who has witnessed me in my worst, in my best, in attack and in defense. This is a friend who has built me up, edified me and spurred me on--who allows me to be the same for her. It is a beautiful encouragement to come such a far ways on a journey like mine and to still have her faithfully by my side.

Also I am able to be remembered by my 2-and-a-half-year-old niece and 8-month-old nephew, which is beyond a blessing. I am developing deeper relationships with my family and pursuing discipleship within my home church.

Through all of these new things that I've only just begun scratching the surface of this passed week, I can tell that I am hearing God's voice clearer and clearer. Because now I am truly depending on Him to show me where to go and how to get there. This is one of the first times in my life where I don't know how my future looks like. Am I going to go back to Canada? Am I going to stay in Texas and get a fulltime job? Am I going to pursue a degree in art or ministry or something completely different? I don't know.

All I know for sure is that every dream I've ever had doesn't just turn to dust! God has a plan for me, and it's gunna be a fine, fine life!