Free Costco Treats
The other day I was walking through Costco with a friend. The thing I like most about Costco is those little “TREAT stations” that are situated around the store. You are walking through looking for a 5 gallon pail of Irish dill pickles or a 62 pack of Red Bull and “BAM!” there in the middle of the aisle is a little table with a lady dressed in a white lab coat serving up Smurf sized portions of cheese cake. This is where things get interesting. I love to watch people and their response to Free Stuff. My kids, for example will make a bee line from one station to the next looking for the best treat table and then spend the remainder of their time trying to figure out how they can disguise themselves so that they can get more free treats without getting caught. I have watched as other families line up at the table as though it is their personal buffet, stuffing crab cakes and crackers with jam down as quick as they can. Then of course there is the intellectual – this person pretends to be interested in the minute details of how the berries were hand picked on the mountainside of Bagumba Venezuela by the Shamiikqua Natives during the rainy season for the best possible flavour. The reality is that they couldn’t care less about any of that nonsense, they just want to distract the Lab coat lady for a few moments with their dazzling knowledge about Venezuela so that they can walk away with a second treat unnoticed. This doesn’t work by the way… they are on to you. They have cameras you know??? Then there are still other shoppers that try out their amateur magician skills by crashing their cart into the mountain of Cheeze Whiz to create enough of a distraction for them to snag a tasty treat unnoticed.
There are all kinds of approaches that people take towards FREE STUFF. However, the reality here is that there is a whole other group of shoppers out there that REALLY want the chocolate chunk brownie and are too shy, proud, distracted, fearful … to reach out and taste and see how good these Costco treats really are. These people tend to rely on others to get them a sample out of fear of what the 78 year old lady in the lab coat might say, or make excuses for their desire by saying they are still full from breakfast. Still others are distracted by their cell phones, ipods, children, husbands, flyers … and miss out on these treats all together. (more for me)
The saddest story is the shopper that never takes that RISK, that step of faith to reach out and taste these scrumptious treats for themselves. They are missing out on all the hard work that the Shamiikqua Natives have put into this jam.
Can I just encourage you today to take some time to approach the table of the Lord by faith this week. What He has to offer you is far more valuable and life giving than any Costco Sample. Would you be brave enough to allow Jesus the opportunity to speak into your life and bring sweetness, blessing and refreshment back to your soul?
The Bible encourages us in Psalm 34:8 “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”
