Panera Bread

I choose to spend my days off work at Panera Bread because it takes me away from the housework I would attempt to do instead of schoolwork for Liberty University. In creating this discipline for myself, spending the day in the back corner disconnected from people and fully engaged in lessons, I have attracted some of the “regulars.” Each time I refill my coffee, I have a handful of people to greet or receive greetings from as I am not the only person who has regularly given their day to Panera. One such person, a worker, a hard worker, is Todd.

Todd has Down’s Syndrome. He spends several hours a day cleaning tabletops, windows, and floors. He works tirelessly the entire time he is here. Todd greets me each time with a “Hey, good-looking!!!!!” that always catches me off-guard and makes me smile. He can usually be heard engaging with other patrons as he makes his rounds. He is always so positive and complimentary as he gets around.

This morning I was sitting in my corner when Todd sat down in the corner opposite. He sat down with his lunch bag which contained a paper plate and plasticware in the outside pocket for whatever the contents of the bag. He sat quietly, getting up and down to refill his drink. I was watching a live gathering at Liberty University on my laptop (Liberty Convocation, the largest weekly gathering of young Christians in the world, is Wednesday and Friday mornings at 1015 on YouTube) that included live worship. I had my headphones on, but out of the corner of my eye Todd was inching closer and closer. I turned my laptop so he could see and turned on captions so he could read along.

I was thoroughly enjoying the music this morning and felt a little bad that I couldn’t disconnect my headphones and let the music play out loud. Out of the corner of my eye, Todd is sitting now beside me with his hands raised in praise as he watches the students at my school do the same. He was drumming along with the drummer when the camera panned to him and strumming like the guitarists when the camera panned to them. The music itself didn’t matter. Todd was praising God just knowing that this is what was happening on my laptop. I couldn’t look at him for fear of just bursting out into tears. I wanted to take a selfie with him, but I didn’t want to make him feel embarrassed for his hands raised.

I think we take for granted more often than not the moments we can reach somebody with the Gospel. We overlook the hearts eager to know. My buddy Todd greets me every single time I walk past him. How many opportunities have I had to bless him in some way? It doesn’t matter. Today he blessed me in a way that I needed more than anything. In this week’s reading, it was taught that sometimes the pastor needs pastoring to. Every day Todd is preaching a Gospel of love. I need to do a better job of listening.