This is not how you want to have breakfast with a mentor

This morning, I was planning to meet up with Steve, a mentor of mine, to catch up and talk life.  We had a good plan too, we were going to meet up after the 9AM service at Buckhead Church and then go over to the Flying Biscuit for food.  I had been looking forward to this all weekend (both Flying Biscuit and hanging out with Steve).  

So, after service this morning (which was really good), I talk to Steve in the lobby and then walk over to The Biscuit to get a table after picking up some gifts that Terry (from my last mission team) wanted me to deliver to some Estonian friends when I travel there next week.  As I am walking over along Piedmont Road past Starbucks to get to the restaurant, I feel a very sharp sensation in my food along with a crunch and a little pain.  I pick up my left foot and guess what I find?  

A huge broken piece of glass (looking like it was once part of a bar glass) sticking out of my shoe.  Yeah - walking right there along the road.  I pulled it out of my shoe and I could definitely tell that it made it to my foot but I wasn't sure how far... but I can still walk so I go on to the Biscuit. 

Once I get over to the Flying Biscuit, I put in for our table and ask the hostess if they have a first aid kit (and told them the little glass story).  A few minutes later she gets back and I find a chair near the bathroom to remove my shoe and sock and survey the damage (praying that there really wasn't any).  While it wasn't horrible, it was a bad cut... to the extent that I found the one piece of gauze in the kit and bandaged it up to wait for Steve while people from the restaurant were coming by regularly to ask if I was okay.  

Obviously you are probably figuring out where this story is going... we didn't have breakfast today.  Instead, at both Steve's and the manager of the restaurant's urging, I went to Piedmont Hospital to get this thing checked out in the ER.  Steve drove me there and instead of hanging out with me over coffee and eggs, he was instead hanging out with me over needles, X-Rays, and stitches.  

While one piece of glass cost us both breakfast, I think God had something in store for this outing that neither of us could envision at the time.  Not only did this time turn out to be some of the richest "guy conversation" that I've had in a long time (somehow my mind, and his, was churning in that hospital room especially after church) but God showed up in some crazy ways as the training nurse walked in right in a deep conversation point and said "I want to stick around for this!" which created an opportunity for him to talk about some things that he was going through and be ministered to.  That was cool... when you get a chance to see a "God moment" like that you relish in it.  It's cool to see God work in unexpected ways.  

But... back to me and my foot... since it's about me and my foot :-) (right?)

This was actually the first time I got stitches because of an injury, to which I was informed that the front of your foot is not a great place to get stitches.  I'll vouch for that now.  Not only did it hurt because of how sensitive that area of my body is, but because I have to let this thing heal, I can't walk on it for 2 days.  Can I tell you how much I was looking forward to walking around in crutches over the rest of Memorial Day ;-) lol.  Fortunately, I won't have to take them to Estonia with me next Friday, but I do have to have the stitches (only 2, thankfully!) taken out 10 days.  

And of course, the discharger asked me if I could come back in in 10 days.  To which I said "no, I won't be in Atlanta."

Discharger:  "Where will you be?"

Me:  "Estonia."

Silence.  

I didn't make this up.  You can't make this up.  

So now, not only do I have stitches in my left foot, crutches for the next 2 days, but I also have a "home stitch removal kit" so I can remove the stitches myself when I am 7 time zones away.  Crazy, huh?  I'm not a big fan of needles or blood, so I'm telling you that this will be a growth moment.  I think I may pray for a med or nursing student to befriend me when I'm in country :-).

And the last piece of advice I got... "don't take that on the plane with you."  

Ahhhh.... good times.

Now that I'm on my couch preparing for the rest of my day with a new set of physical circumstances, I got to thinking about the experience, the conversations I got to have with Steve (whom I'm really thankful stuck out the whole time in the ER with me!), and the teachable moments that created.  Looking back at this in 2 weeks I'm going to laugh, and I think I am even now because it shows how creative God is sometimes.  

Whether we think about it or not, sometimes the "Plan B's" in our life that would have rather not happened are actually God's "Plan A" that He's going to let us experience in the moment.  Now don't get me wrong, I would have much rather had eggs, grits, and coffee at the Biscuit, but would I have traded that QT today in the ER?  Not really, not now.  I would rather not have to walk around the rest of this weekend on crutches, but I also know that God is going to use that in my life and for His glory.  

And because of that, I can smile :-)

Oh yeah - as a word of accountability, for the next breakfast with Steve, I'm paying.