I'm so thankful I was the rudest person on earth!

So, today is kind of a special day, and I want to share this story with you!

It was January 24th and 25th, 2015.

Bradley came to our church to fill in for us, because we were without a pastor.

Actually, he came to our house for dinner on Saturday night (the 24th), then preached at our church on Sunday.
So I met him at our house first, technically!

(All my life I've heard people say that God is not going to drop someone on your doorstep...
you have to go out and find them.
Yeah, well never say never!
Turns out God can do whatever He wants!)

So anyway, we met on January 24th.

Him (and his uncle who was with him) came to the house that night for dinner.

Now, I am not an outgoing person, and the facts about him being a "younger" preacher had already been fully brought to my attention. 

Plus, now he's coming to my house. 

So in my mind, this was the perfect setup for a completely awkward evening. I had made up in my mind, that I didn't care who this guy was, how old he was, or anything....it wasn't going to matter to me.

And it really didn't.

The end.

They came into the house, and I was in the kitchen finishing up whatever we made for dinner.

I think him and most of my family stayed in the living room for a few minutes, and then came and sat down at the table.

I remember the first second I saw him when he walked into the kitchen, and thinking to myself "hmm. He looks okay. Not that it matters."

So we all sit down and have dinner.

He talked to my parents, he talked to some of my siblings, you know, just in the course of conversation.

I think he and I probably said a grand total of two or three words back and forth.

Which I was totally fine with.

Especially since his uncle was totally trying to hook us up, and that always made me so mad when people tried to do that. Add that with the mindset I already had, and yeah, I wasn't buying into this guy in any way, shape or form!

I don't care how nice he is!

Or, that he looked....ummm, nice, and stuff.

He had on this black sweater with brown elbow patches on it.

Pretty nice.

Plus, he was wearing it with a white dress shirt.

And jeans!

I mean, he looked put together, let me tell ya!

Psh, but I never noticed!

ANYWAYS!!!! 

Don't distract me! On with the story!

So Sunday morning rolls around.

Nothing new for me. I did what I always did on Sundays.

Again, at church, he seemed nice. But I honestly just didn't pay him any attention whatsoever.

I think in between Sunday school and church, when we were waiting for the service to start, my mom was talking to him. 

We always sat on the second pew back. He was sitting on the pew in front of us. 

Squarely in front of me. 

Not on purpose, because he had no way of knowing where our assigned seating was, but still! 

(this is a joke...we don't have assigned seating...it's just everyone tends to sit in the same place every service.)

He turned around at one point, and commented on how much he liked something that I had made for dinner the night before.

Poor guy.

 He was trying to be nice, and make conversation.

Guess what I said?

"Oh. Thank you."

That was it.

That's pretty much how it went all day. Other than that conversation, we may have exchanged words one or two more times.

When we were leaving, in passing, I said it was nice to meet him, and hoped they had a safe trip home.

And that was it.

He left.

I left.

I was rude.

So very rude.

Never went out of my way to make him feel welcome. 

Nothing.

 I don't even think I shook his hand. 

I never said anything that was rude, per say. 

I never ignored him, or stuck my nose in the air and walked away, or anything like that.

I just literally acted like he was any other preacher, there to preach for us, and then go home.

He just happened to be a really nice, younger guy.

Oh, and he was definitely not arrogant like a lot of other younger guys.

Oh, and he...ummm....well, he looked sort of, umm.......he had a nice suit on, okay?!?!!!!

At the time, I did feel a little bad. 

BUT, I'm not an out-going person. 

I don't go up to any other stranger and just make conversation (especially to a guy), so why would I change now?

Well, I didn't.

I stayed in my own little world for two days, not really thinking about him. Or much of anyone, for that matter.

As my world unfolded over the next couple of months, I felt worse and worse about the way I had acted.

Or maybe not acted, would be a better way to put it.

After we had been talking for a little while, at one point we were talking about that weekend, and he told me all about the way he had felt and what had been going through his mind.

Then I felt even WORSE!!!

And I told him that!

And I told him I was soooo sorry, for being so rude!

TO THIS DAY, 

guess what he tells me?

He tells me that he was so glad I acted the way I did.

WHAT?

He says that if I had been more forward and out-going, he wouldn't have given me a second thought.

blush.blush.heart-pitter-pattering.blush.

eyes-watering.blush.blush.

Although I do still feel a little bit bad, because if I had known that he was totally, completely watching me that weekend, I would have tried to be a little nicer!

But thankfully God doesn't work like that! Thankfully I couldn't see ahead into the future, or read another person's mind. Because then I would not have been myself. I would have tried to act another way, and basically "put on a show." Not even on purpose, necessarily, but everyone acts a little different when they know they are being watched, right?

So today, I can't thank the Lord enough for bringing Bradley Brazeal into my life, on January 24, 2015!!!

And now, 

I'm even thankful that I was 

SO RUDE!

Note:

-To all those out there, who may be waiting for that "special someone" - I would strongly urge you to not use my art here!

God worked things out in spite of the way I acted, not because of the way I acted!

It is never okay to be purposefully rude to someone, in hopes that they will notice you!

That's not the attention you want!

Be yourself. Be kind to others. Serve the Lord.

He's in control, and He will work it out!

-Let me know in the comments, if anyone wants to hear the rest of our story!