Is This Seat Taken?

One of our affiliates serving in Germany shared this story of a simple act of kindness that had a big impact.

I recently played a show at an Irish Restaurant here in Germany. It was a wonderful opportunity to invite friends, neighbors and people from our Bible study out for an evening of fun. I had reserved a table next to the stage for our group, and as it got closer to nine o’clock the place started getting crowded with no vacant seats. It was at that moment a guy walked up to our table and asked if he could have one of the empty stools to take to another table where he and some friends were standing. We still had a number of people coming, so someone at our table let him know that none were available. After he walked away I looked at the number of seats that we had and asked the table, “Do we have enough?” After mixed nods of uncertainty, I picked up a stool and carried it ten feet over to the gentleman who had just asked if we had an extra seat. Fast-forward a month…

One of our friends from our Bible study stopped by our house to hang out. She had been at the show that night with a colleague from work who is a non-believer. Our friend told us that when I carried the stool over to the stranger her colleague looked at her and said, “He is a Christian, isn't he?” She asked, "How do you know?" Her response, “Because most people here wouldn't care or go out of their way to do something like that.”

Who knew that something as small as giving up a seat would point someone to God? People are paying attention, and when we show others love and compassion, it gets noticed. That one event was way more powerful than anything I could have said that night, because God revealed to her through my simple action a profound truth about Himself, that He cares about everyone and calls His followers to do the same.