Unexpected Blessings

We are fortunate to have a Culver's just about a quarter-mile southeast of our house.  For the nearly ten years we have lived in our house, we have enjoyed meals at Culver's.  Our oldest son worked there while he was in high school, which was a great job - we got a family discount!  It has also become a tradition for the family to eat there after church on Sunday nights with some friends from church.

If you have never been to Culver's, I will do my best to describe it.  It looks like a fast-food restaurant, but it doesn't quite fit that description.  Their hamburgers are excellent and made-to-order - no warming tray for precooked sandwiches .  Mr. Interface, one of the Microsoft programmers I work with, insists on eating there every time he comes to Rochester - he loves their Butterburgers!  They are quite good...

They also have frozen custard - which is ice cream on steroids!  They post their "Flavor of the Day" on their sign along the highway, and I always check the sign.  You just can't drive by some flavors!  I like all the flavors except the ones with coconut in them.  I don't understand why you would ruin perfectly good ice cream by putting coconut in it. 

This past Sunday found me at Culver's with my good friends, Mr. and Mrs. Musical Lovers and their youngest son.  The Mrs. and Mr. Youngster had eaten earlier, so I was the only one there from my family.  We had finished eating and were sitting around joking and laughing (as usual) when a Culver's employee approached our table.  In his hands were two pumpkin-pecan Concrete Mixer malts.  He asked if we would like to have them - free of charge!  Naturally, I agreed.  It turns out that Mr. Musical Lover doesn't like pumpkin, so his wife and I enjoyed the Concrete Mixers.  Culver's wasn't through with us though, soon another employee walked up with a caramel cashew sundae and offered it to Mr. Musical Lover.  He gladly accepted it.  We were all three in heaven as we enjoyed our free and unexpected desserts!  I believe the freebies were given to us (good customers) because it was their 10th anniversary of the restaurant.  The Mrs. and Mr. Youngster chose a bad night to eat early...

In Malachi 3:10, God offers us a challenge, "Bring the whole tithe (10%) into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."  I have heard many people say they can't afford to give a tithe to the church.  From personal experience, I found that isn't true.  The Mrs. and I have been tithing from the day we were married.  Yes, there were times that money was extremely tight and giving a tithe to God was an act of faith.  But we quickly found that God will take care of us when we trust Him.  And this verse is 100% true - He will bless you abundantly more than you can ever imagine when you trust Him with the tithe.  I was excited to receive the unexpected blessing of a pumpkin-pecan Concrete Mixer from Culver's the other night, but it pales in comparison to the unexpected blessings God has poured out in my life!