It was almost closing time, something like 9:55 p.m. After a moment's hesitation, I walked into the grocery store. I was looking for the manager and saw him immediately, standing at a register and checking out a woman who had paid with cash. I could hear the coins as he passed the change to her. There also was a young employee there, ready to carry the woman's groceries to her car. She didn't have much.
It made the scene a little uncomfortable, because both the woman and the bagger were standing there when I asked my question. The woman was fiddling as she put her change away, and the bagger was just waiting. But I'd decided I would be bold. I didn't care if I had an audience.
The manager was a guy I knew well, but only by sight. He seemed always to be in the store -- a guy about 60 years old and bald on top. He just looked at me after I asked my question, and then said that I could pray for him. So I did , asking for God's blessing on the man as he finished out his night at work. Then he thanked me and wished me a good night, and I left.
One more thing of note about this encounter. I'd read something a few days ago about evangelism and asking to pray for people. It was on a website dedicated to evangelism. The counsel was this: Be careful about asking to pray for people because you can come across as self-righteous and condescending. I'd never thought of that before, and certainly I've never felt superior to anyone I've prayed for.
But that thought was in my mind as I asked to pray for the manager. So I tried to be as meek as possible. In the end, he let me pray for him -- just as dozens of people have in the past. And I felt like a goof. In my effort to be meek, and offer up no air of superiority, I think I just came across as weird. So much for that.
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