Yes, I ate at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday (and on Thursday, for that matter)...but, it's probably not why you think. It really had nothing to do with same-sex marriage. If you know me at all, you know I'm pretty much a non-confrontational kind of gal. It's not that I'm wishy-washy...just that I try to respect ALL people, regardless of whether they think like I do or not. From what I read in my Bible, that's the kind of guy Jesus was...and my goal is to be more like Him (though I'm a long way off from that goal!). :)
I usually stay away from such controversial issues as this because in almost every one of them, I have friends on both sides. I read an article in the midst of the latest Chick-fil-A controversy that stated that Christians are not here to fight the issues. All too often, we put those issues/causes/whatever-you-want-to-call-them above other people. But that's not our purpose. We were given a commandment to love our neighbor. On Wednesday, I posted on my Facebook page verses in Matthew about this. Here are the verses:
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."
~Matthew 22:36-39
If I truly love my neighbor as myself, then I'm not going to cut them down for their sins any more than I'd want someone to cut me down for mine. Yes, according to the Bible, homosexuality is a sin. But so is lying, cheating, stealing, greed, and gluttony. God didn't specify any sins as more heinous than any other with the exception of blasphemy...so who am I to decide that someone else's sin is worse than my own? We are all sinners and we all need Jesus. He died to wipe away our sins so that we could spend eternity in Heaven...ALL of us! No sinner is better than another, just as no sin is better than another. God made ALL of us, He loves ALL of us...and He commands us to love each!
So...having said all that, why did I choose to participate in the Chick-Fil-A day? For the simple reason that I wanted to support a business that shares my faith and has, from the very beginning, based all of their decisions and operating procedures on Christian values...both when it was socially acceptable...and even now that it is not. My chicken sandwich was not against anyone...but instead in support of Christian values...something I do quite regularly anyway. You see, it wasn't all that out of character for me to go to CFA...just that I stood in a little longer line than usual. I wasn't making any kind of a political statement. In fact, had I not been asked, I would have made no statement at all, other than the purchase of a lunch (that I probably would have purchased that day anyway since we were at the mall for my son to get a haircut). But a lady did ask. She asked me if I knew what we were supporting. I simply told her I was supporting a business that stood for Christian values (which, by the way, seems to be a dying breed).
Another reason I chose to support CFA? Because a friend of mine told me a little known story about Truitt Cathey. You see, her parents worked for CFA when they were young...in fact, that's where they met. And when Truitt Cathey got wind of their pending marriage, he offered his own cabin as their honeymoon location. When he realized that their honemoon was planned for the same weekend as his family's annual gathering at the cabin, he paid for the young couple's honeymoon at a location of their choosing! My friend was born about 10 months later! :)
On a more personal note, when my cousin was dying of colon cancer, several of our family members went to CFA for lunch. The owner of the local CFA paid for ALL of our lunches (about 20, in total)! At the time, I thought it was simply a gesture of the individual owner, who also happened to be a friend of the family. However, today, I learned through CFA's Facebook page that this is not an isolated incident. A soldier returning from Iraq wanted CFA and his family called ahead because there were going to be about 15 or so of them. Not only did they set up tables for them, but they decorated them with American flags and other such patriotic fare...and the owner paid for all of their meals as well! That says a lot for a company and its values in my opinion. :)
