Lessons for Living

Tipping at Restaurants

I learned something yesterday while reading a blog rant. I learned that many (most?) waitresses and waiters are paid around $3 an hour by the restaurant for which they work.

Three dollars an hour!

Well, I didn’t want to believe it just because I read it on someone’s blog. So this morning I researched the matter a bit.

And at the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ site I found this little gem:

Tipped employees are those who customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. The employer may consider tips as part of wages, but the employer must pay at least $2.13 an hour in direct wages.

I had no idea!

Would you take a job with that kind of direct wages?

Especially if you had to rely on tippers like you to make up the difference?

So don’t be stingy!

Especially if you’re a Christian!

When you go into that eating joint that employs servers (aka waitresses and waiters), you are buying the food and hiring the serve staff.

Make sure that server earns a just wage while he’s working for you.

After writing all of the above, I came across the following:

Christian Odyssey: Confessions of a waitress

Unfortunately, the “after-church” Sunday lunch customers are some of the rudest and most demanding people I wait on.

[…]

But here’s a tip for you—free of charge: If you go out to eat, remember to leave your server a 20 percent tip. If they made you laugh, smile, or gave exceptional service (even if things didn’t go exactly as planned otherwise), leave them a little extra. Remember the things that are out of their control, and remember that they are still doing their best to serve you in spite of those things.

Jesus’ example of servanthood couldn’t be truer than in a restaurant. Yes, wait-staff are there to serve you. But by treating your wait-staff with dignity and empathy, you’re showing them the respect they deserve. They have feelings, and they are simply trying to earn a living—sometimes two.

Your generosity and politeness is a service to them. Somehow I think if Jesus were a customer at a restaurant, he’d be gracious, polite and generous.

“And, The labourer is worthy of his reward” (1 Timothy 5:18).

“Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven” (Colossians 4:1).

Sugar

Sugar . . .

  • tastes good and can be enjoyable to eat
  • gives an energy boost followed by a low
  • not enough can make some food unpleasant until you get used to it
  • doing without it usually isn’t deadly
  • has little or no nutritional value
  • tears down the immune system
  • can have an addictive effect
  • some people tolerate it better than others do
  • may not be a poison but it can be deadly

Scroll down for a shift in subject!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does that also describe my music?

Too Cheap

I saw her face so often yesterday.

Dupre

As they say, she started to “haunt” me.

  • She could be my daughter. (I have two children older than she, and three younger.)
  • Why would she sell herself so cheaply?
  • What does she know about Jesus and His Gospel?
  • Who will help her?

So the governor of New York paid $1000 an hour for her “services.” I wouldn’t pay $10. It is just not worth the price.

Even so, she is worth that price. In fact, she sold herself far too cheaply. Even a rate a thousand times what Mr. Spitzer paid would be too little for this young woman. Or any woman.

“Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body” (1 Corinthians 6:13).

“As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion” (Proverbs 11:22).

“Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids” (Proverbs 6:25).

“Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).

“For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life” (Proverbs 6:26).

“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:13).

“Go, and sin no more” (John 8:11).

May the Lord redeem and renew Kristen or Kirsten or Ashley or whatever Miss Dupre’s name is.

Christian Teen Girls?

Here’s the news:

More than one in four U.S. teen girls is infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease, and the rate is highest among blacks, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

An estimated 3.2 million U.S. girls ages 14 and 19 — about 26 percent of that age group — have a sexually transmitted infection such as the human papillomavirus or HPV, chlamydia, genital herpes or trichomoniasis, the CDC said.

Forty-eight percent of black teen-age girls were infected, compared to 20 percent of whites and 20 percent of Mexican American girls. The report did not give data on the broader U.S. Hispanic population.

[…]

About half reported ever having had sex . . . .

And here’s more news (although almost four years old by now!):

About one-third of American teenagers claim they’re “born again” believers, according to data gathered over the past few years by Barna Research Group, the gold standard in data about the U.S. Protestant church, and 88% of teens say they are Christians. About 60% believe that “the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings.” And 56% feel that their religious faith is very important in their life.

Here’s the question about the teen girls in the first article: What percentage of these profess to be Christians?

(And, as a Mennonite, a sub-question: How many of them are Mennonites?)

As one who doesn’t live that way, maybe I should stop identifying myself as a Christian, eh? 🙄 (After all, so many people are giving Christian a bad reputation, a bad connotation, a bad name, etc.)

Oh, for the Christianity 101 comment, read this: God says the human body is for Him to inhabit and not to be used immorally.

A Gold Ring in a Pig’s Nose

I saw a picture today that reminded me of this verse:

“As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion” (Proverbs 11:22).

The picture featured an attractive woman cozied up to a handsome man.

With no apparent shame on her part.

Too bad.

I’ve seen lots of pictures like that. And far worse.

Too bad.

So how about this next verse?

“Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).

Lady, don’t cozy up to a man who’s not your husband.

Guard your virtue. Protect your reputation. Honor God. (Of course, if you don’t fear the Lord, this post likely means little to you. But the proverb still applies.)

Men, what’s your role in this?

And what type of woman do you praise?

And would you enable or encourage or entice a woman to be “as a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout” with you?

Test Your Movies

The Motion Picture Production Code

A Code to Govern the Making of Talking, Synchronized and Silent Motion Pictures. Formulated and formally adopted by The Association of Motion Picture Producers, Inc. and The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc.

There’s some amazing stuff there.

Those of you that watch “family friendly” or Christian movies, would you have them to watch if the above code were still in force?

(No, it isn’t in force — it’s from 1930.)

Though I don’t watch movies, I’m guessing that even many Christian movies of today would fail the Code test.

So tell me — what has happened to Christianity?

As in the days of Noah, things will get worse — much worse.

Jordan Arrests Eight Evangelists

Eight people have been arrested in Jordan for propagating the Christian faith:

Jordanian security forces arrested eight people, mostly foreigners, after they were caught distributing missionary material to Bedouin families north and east of the Jordanian capital, Amman, the Saudi daily Al-Watan reported.

The authorities received information about the missionaries from local residents who said these foreigners were offering humanitarian assistance to poor Muslim families and distributing fliers promoting Christianity.

Sources said they were “enticing” impoverished youngsters by paying them money and calling on them to marry foreign girls.

I have curious questions about this:

  • What was the content of the flyers?
  • From what countries are they?
  • Why would they be doing such activity in a Muslim country?
  • What is their denominational affiliation?
  • Should handing out tracts be kept to relatively safe and friendly locales?
  • Will a letter-writing campaign be launched in their behalf?
  • Will the Jordanian government apologize for religious insensitivity?
  • Are lots of people praying for these evangelizers already?

I know, too many of those are unimportant questions but maybe they’ll make good Google bait.

And a concern (of sorts, anyway): What will become of those eight people?

May the Lord show His grace and strength and glory and love and wisdom through them. May they be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And may God not be ashamed to be called their God.

Above all, love God!