February 28 – “That IS a big order”

Well, Chris is pretty sore from her physical therapy session and from her exercising regimen, but she is ticking to it.  She is determined to get back to walking as soon as she can.  Not that she’s not walking.  I mean walking as in … outside … on trails … in National Parks.

In between work on the sermon and looking over the Thursday Bible study notes, I ran over to the bank to make a deposit, and then stopped to get gas in the car.  I was anticipating our trip into Texas to Sam’s to get a big order for the church.  But first we had to wait for Kel to get off work.  He had arranged to get off early so he could go to Jachin’s baseball game.  We went to pick him up and get him to LaMarque, since Sam’s is right down the street from where they live.  Worked out well on both ends.

And speaking of that big order (Hey, anytime we are as low on toilet paper as we had gotten at the church, the order to refill IS a big order), this one was about in the middle as far as typical Sam’s run monetary totals are concerned.  The big problem this time was the line to check out.  They only had one checker-operated line open, and that line stretched at least ten shoppers deep.  It was blocking the entire walkway.  We swung our cart into position and settled in to wait.  It didn’t take long before the call for reinforcements went out over the PA system.  And, to their credit, workers started showing up out of the woodwork.  Two more lines opened, but instead of taking folks who were next in line, there was a mad dash of people from the very end of the line to fill in the new spots.  We didn’t move at all. 

But our patience was soon rewarded.  A manager-type lady approached us and asked if we wanted her to help us do a self-checkout.  I told her it was for the church, and thus would be tax exempt.  She assured me she could show me how to do that on the self-serve screen.  So we followed.  To my complete surprise, the screen was probably the most user friendly one I have ever seen in that type of situation.  Certainly beat the ones at WalMart.  After I scanned my Sam’s card it addressed me as “Seaside” and informed me right away that I was eligible to make tax exempt purchases.  All I had to do was select the correct button.  Easy stuff.  Then I got to play with the ray gun that shoots the bar codes.  Hey, who doesn’t like to play with ray guns?  In no time at all we were making our way out the door.  I’m still not a real fan of self-serve lines, though.  It takes away a chance to see if I can get someone else to smile …

Psalms 19:7 says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.  The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.”

Father, thank you for that Sam’s lady and her assistance getting us moving.  Give her a good day at work and at home today.  Amen.