Sweet Encounter

Today I took the girls to Mansfield to run some errands.  We stopped at Panera for breakfast.  I wanted them to be full and have lots of energy to keep up with me because we had a lot of stores to go to.  While we were in Panera, the girls met a very special friend.  They wanted to sit by the fire and they were positioned by an older gentleman.  He started talking to them as they ate their breakfast and they grew more and more comfortable with him.  He was telling quite a story about how he had a heart attack in 1994 and the medical staff burned his vocal cords when they put the tube down his throat.  He had a really scratchy voice and wanted the kids to know why he sounded different.  I asked him more questions the longer we sat there and learned that his wife had left him and he had no kids.  It was a sad story.  But he was friendly and had a very positive attitude about his life.  I asked him if he was upset about his vocal cords and he firmly said, "No!  They saved my life!"  It was a neat encounter.  And then we got up to leave the restaurant and said our goodbyes to the kind gentleman.  Mya and Sara stopped before we got to the door, turned around and went back to the gentleman to ask him if he knew Jesus.  Others in the restaurant heard this going on and were quite touched by the sweet, innocent question that the girls asked.  The gentleman said he did love the Lord and the girls felt so good about that.  I left the restaurant feeling like one proud mama!