WACKY WEDNESDAY WISDOM: I'm Probably Not Who You Think I Am

     Because what I'm about to share with you has happened to me not once, not twice, but thrice in the past few months, I believe it can be considered more than mere coincidence. Twice while grocery shopping at Food Lion and once at the Ingles grocery store. There must be something with me and grocery stores because a lot of stuff seems to happen to me there. 

     Mind you, my main concern when I enter a grocery store is to be about locating the items on my list, minding my own business, and swiping my credit card while exchanging a few pleasantries with the check out person. 

     But that's not the way it's been transpiring lately. First, it was a young couple who looked to be a boyfriend/girlfriend arrangement who were searching for spaghetti sauce. Then it was a gentleman who was curious about the price of a particular package of meat. After that, it was a lady who was frantic after the original turkey she bought at the grocery store turned green by the time she got it home and she needed to exchange it for a "less spoiled" one immediately. 

     On the first two occasions, I had dropped by the grocery store after church and was wearing dress pants with a nice shirt and tie. While picking through the brands of loaves of bread in an attempt to determine which were the most healthy, I heard a male voice next to me ask- "Sir, can you tell me where we might find the pasta sauce?" I quickly realized the voice of the young man with the young lady nestled close to his shoulder was speaking to me. Not wanting to appear startled by the inquiry, I tried to answer as best I could by directing them to a row on the other side of the store. "I'm not sure but I think it's that direction" I said politely as I pointed. They looked at me a little strangely, thanked me, and off they went. 

     On a subsequent trip to the grocery store, a similar event occurred. Again I was picking up some items on my way home after church. This time I was thumbing through the Reduced For Quick Sale packages of meat whose expiration dates were nearing. "Sir," asked a male voice near me, "Do you know if this package is one of the ones on sale?" Neighborly as always, I informed the gentleman that I wasn't sure but would take a look at the package for him. Looking it over, I decided it probably wasn't on sale. "I don't think so, but you should probably ask somebody else to make sure," I said. 

     The man stared at me intently and we locked eyes for an awkward moment before he, slightly red-faced with embarrassment exclaimed, "Oh, I'm sorry, you don't work here, do you?"

     Suddenly it all made sense. I had been coming into the grocery store on Sundays wearing my shirt and tie. And when I stopped to take a look at items I was considering to purchase, folks mistook me for one of the managers. No wonder those two teenagers had looked at me strangely when I pretty much blew them off by pointing vaguely at an aisle on the other side of the store. Now I was the one embarrassed. 

     With that in mind, I'll admit I had no inkling that the third encounter within a few weeks would occur in the frozen turkey section of another Food Lion grocery store. I had been sent on an errand to retrieve a frozen turkey and because the weather was unseasonably warm, I was wearing a short sleeve black pullover and my favorite pair of camo shorts. 

     While picking through the assortment of available birds, a middle-aged lady appeared beside me and began to complain about the turkey she had purchased the previous day. She even showed me pictures of it and indeed it was truly green. I contorted my face in various sorts of anguished poses in order to convince her I was sympathetic to the disgust she felt having purchased such an utterly pathetic gobbler. 

     "What should I do?" she asked. I told her I thought she should take her pictures up to the front and show the manager, and surely by doing so he would let her pick out another turkey. Her mouth dropped to the floor. She shrieked in horror- "You mean you don't work here!?" (Silly me, I would have thought the zip up black polyester pullover and the camo cargo shorts would have given me away, but apparently not). 

     People don't always recognize us for who we are and often times mistake us for somebody else. Jesus had the same issue in the Bible. In 1 John 4:14, the disciple John tells us that "We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world". Jesus Christ was the Savior of the world yet most of the people of that day mistook Him for something else. They were expecting him to come as a great warrior or a military or political leader who would kick the Romans out of Jerusalem and restore the Jewish nation of Israel. He didn't wear what they expected him to wear. He didn't act the way they expected Him to act. He didn't say what they expected Him to say. Yet He was indeed the promised Savior and most people failed to recognize Him as such. 

     I pray that each of us would recognize our Savior for who He is and not try to shape Him into the image we want Him to be. He is who He is and that should be enough. And I am content with who I am in Christ. But if I ever take a notion to change who I am and give another profession a shot, I'd be proud to be a grocery store manager. As long as they would let me wear my camo shorts.