Dear God,

I want to thank you for letting me know Roger. He taught me more accidentally than many of my teachers did on purpose. I know You know this story, but I love to tell it...

A few months ago Roger needed to buy some kitchen cabinets and phoned the home improvement store. The lady at the store was so impressed with him over the phone (she later told me), she sat and looked at the wall after they hung up. She remembers thinking, There is something unique about that man ... something different. Right from the beginning of our conversation I could tell he was not just interested in kitchen cabinets, he came across as so caring and so genuinely interested in me...

A few days later he came to the store and they met. They decided on the cabinets he wanted and ordered them, but Karen couldn't shake the thought that this man was unlike most any customer she had ever had ... there was a thoughtfulness and respect that saturated everything he said. There was a genuineness, almost a radiance about him she couldn't quite define. She remembers thinking, I don't know what he's got, but whatever it is I want some of it.

Before he left, Roger invited her to visit his church. She was impressed with his caring manner and wanted to attend, but because of scheduling issues she couldn't. So Roger invited her to Wednesday night prayer meeting—and she's been coming ever since. In fact, she changed jobs and it freed up her weekends. Now she almost never misses.

Remember, this all started with the tone of Roger's voice, the look on his face, the words he spoke. He learned what I want to live, God, that my most important assignment is not to buy kitchen cabinets—or anything else—but rather that Jesus be so real in me that every person I touch, in whatever capacity, will want to know Him.

Help me to remember that I'm always on Kingdom business, and the linkages that form are of Your making so I can radiate on people. So I can see them not as cranky clerks, but as people You love and who need a little dose of encouragement from me. Not as irresponsible drivers in the car ahead of me, but as folks I need to pray for. Not as rebels with spiked hair and safety pins in their eyebrows, but as kids You want me to love on Your behalf.

Isn't a phone call to a clerk in a home improvement store, which I seldom frequent, a strange setting for me to remember that I'm on the King's business? No, there are no "strange settings." When I recall what You have done for me, what You saved me from ... when I recall the scope of Your plan for my life ... when I recall what You have in store, it reminds me that You have honored me with the opportunity to tell Your story. As one of the redeemed, I want to remember to say so.

Roger helped me understand a little better how that works. Thank You, Lord.

Your friend.

Don Jacobsen writes from Hiawassee, Georgia. He is the former president of Adventist World Radio.