It's Okay to Tip an Atheist

All of what I'm about to say is mostly built upon assumption about a situation that happened to me. I forward this post by saying that because I could be off the mark completely, but who knows besides Jesus.

As many people know, I am a barista at a local coffee shop here in Ypsilanti. On top of my regular hourly pay, I also get tipped (which is pretty much what I live off day to day). Many people who work in food service who also receive tips, would more than likely agree with me that tips are great and everyone should tip.

This past Saturday, I was at work and a pretty big crowd came in and ever so often someone would tip me maybe $.25 or so. A man who was in this particular group came up and jokingly told me that he had a lot of singles and didn't know what to do with them. Jokingly, I replied "Feel free to give some to me." He laughed a little bit and we started talking.

This guy is apart of a ministry that is beginning / really small in the Ypsilanti area and all the people who had gotten a coffee were also apart of this ministry. Eventually the question came as to where I'm at in my walk with Jesus to which I said something along the lines of "I believe in Jesus and I have a church I attend." More conversation happened about his ministry, business cards were exchanged, and the guy tipped me $2.00.

When he walked away, the only thing I could think about is "What about if I wasn't a Christian..." What about if I didn't believe Jesus is Lord of all,who died for my sins, rose from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father?

Would this guy have tipped me?

This is not a post about the purpose of tipping.
This is not a post about how this guy as a person.
This post is about the frustrations I have that I may have been tipped BECAUSE I believe in Jesus.

In my favorite book of God's Word, Romans, it is written in Chapter 3 about how Jews and Gentiles "alike are all under the power of sin. (v. 9)" Jews grew up with God's Word being taught to them in every aspect of life YET Jesus still says "You gotta want to be in this relationship with me for this to work properly". and Gentiles were considered the absolute least YET Jesus says "I died for you too. You also have to want this relationship for this to work."

Christ calls us to love like He loves: Without judgement, with an open heart, and with the desire to be an incarnation of Christ to everyone we meet.
And I fail daily at this. I say this to show that I also have a plank in my eye.

To conclude, a few points:

1. Tip. I'm not going to pull the sob story card but I will pull the be a good person card. Pennies are magical because they when you get enough of them, you can make nickles and dimes.

2. I don't know how Jesus feels about tipping but I do know the bit about 10% in tithing and I do know the universal suggestion of 10%-20% in tipping.

3. It's okay to tip someone who isn't a Christian because lucky for both parties, salvation isn't based on anything this world can give, but on everything God gives so freely.

I don't know if this post helped you at all. Reading it over and over, I can see how it doesn't answer anything but I feel better now. Feel free to comment and share this. I love hearing what others are thinking about something I'm thinking about.

Go out and show the world His love,
Angie

God and Angie: A Love Story

It's been months since I've written and even more months since I reflected on experiences. It's actually quite funny, I'm not big on reflecting because most of the time, it's for a class or something and I know the professor doesn't actually care. But, how I reflect allows whomever wants to read my blog posts, a little insight into my mind and what exactly I think when it comes to many things.

A lot has changed and a lot really hasn't. On the inside, yes, my mentality is changing and my ability to really understand fully is changing. And most importantly, how I am reacting to God is changing and that one has been the most recent change. On the more physical level, I am on my way to dropping pounds. I am noticing but not many people are (or they are afraid to hurt my feelings). That is giving me a ton of confidence and is something I can take ownership of. No one is making me not eat as much, go to the gym a few times a week, think twice about eating a donut, no one but myself. And to be honest, it makes me feel more accountable to myself for myself.

See, I'm learning to focus on me again.

What I want to delve into a lot a bit is what God is doing in my life. All of this is pretty recent stuff, I'm talking a week or so. What that has taught me is that when a person is actually open to be changed by the Lord, He works. It's as simple as that. What I have realized with that, is that I am more open to changing when my heart and mind agree. I guess that makes sense; does anyone else experience that?

So, with all that, I God has been convicting me to do the following:

1. Read His Word like crazy. But not just read it, understand for myself and let that guide my relationship with Him. And it's really been great: I'm currently going through two studies on my iPod and I am writing notes and highlighting things that I like or question or whatever else I am feeling. It's really been putting me in a Godly way of thinking and is really helping me discern relationships around me.

2. There are some things meant to be discussed and also things that God doesn't want me to talk about. I know these things because I am still trying to understand much of what I am being taught and it doesn't make much sense to say things that I am still trying to discern. That's one that I really need to work on and, once again it's one of those things people can encourage me to do but not do for me.

3. Lastly, God is really teaching me that HE is my foundation and to trust Him. Isn't that kind of a daily thing to remember?  Yeah, I think so to. And that it's okay to open up to other people but more importantly, God loves just listening. And I love talking. It's a nice relationship we have.

To conclude, I have a lot more I could say but I don't think this post is the place for that. I do ask you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep me in your prayers. I'm not saying thoughts because thoughts can be molded into something not of God; prayers not so much. This isn't to say that if you were to tell me "Angie, I was thinking about your post but then you told me not to, therefore I stopped." That'd annoy me because a) you'd sound like and b) Augh. You over think things.

What I would love prayer for is using what is happening on the inside and letting it show. That's like the biggest thing I can for prayer about.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. And please comment. Message me. Call me. Please contact me. I want to share what God is doing with me and I'd love to just reflect in person. And I'd love to know what God is doing in you too. So please, do that.

And all of God's people said, AMEN!
-Angie

Rejection is the easiest way to humble a person.

So, you know that moment you should have listened to God but instead you don't and everything goes to the shits? Mhm, that happened this weekend.

I am not going to get tell my entire store here but I will say that I learned a whole lot and I learned that this whole detox thing is going to start all over again. It's kind of of like when you quit smoking, at least for me: You stop and you feel really great after feeling like crap for a long time and then temptation comes and you say "I'll only do it once, I'll be fine." and then you smoke all weekend and you feel like crap afterwards. Yea, that's basically how I feel.

I learned that I am still not ready for a relationship and that my natural "sex drive" is still ever so present. I use it for bad reasons this weekend to get what I wanted and that's what I'm really kicking myself for now. I ended up hurting myself a whole lot and I hurt the guy because his feelings are confusing towards me which I don't even understand, I'm not convinced he even understands. I also can't date because I like the freedom I have and I like the independence I have with a lot of stuff. I'm not in a position to be give my heart up and I really don't think it's a good idea.

I learned that my heart is bigger than my head. I care about this guy a whole lot and for some reason I only learned this AFTER messing everything up. I don't care about him enough to put effort into being a girlfriend (even though we've both clearly stated we don't want that) but I want this friendship. I showed in it in a dumb way and my mind was focused on one thing. The guy cares for me too, that changed really quickly this weekend and that confuses me even more and kind of says something about me: If I'm not getting what I want, I'm not happy even if the thing I don't want is the better decision AND I know that.

I learned that I can do better and be better. Why did it take me until yesterday to realize that EVERY TIME  I am alone with this guy, I end up crying? I realized it on Friday but....it's confusing and I think I will talk about that in another post. I told the guy that he can do better than me and I think he understands, I don't know. I think I've learned that trusting this guy is either gonna be hard or not going to happen.

If you know who I am talking about, good for you. I'm sure if you are reading this and you tell the guy what I said, I honestly don't care. Everything I just wrote, he already knows and has been expressed.

That's about it.
-Angie