A Modern Day Stephen

Well, it's currently 5:30am on Wednesday, and I'm awake.  Lol!  For those who don't know, being up this early is strange for me; especially since I don't usually wake up until 7:30am for work.  That's on a usual day, but today...well, I just had quite the encouraging dream, and I just HAVE to share it!

There was a conference being held in a well-known hotel, and everyone who was anyone attended.  During this conference, a banquet was held in the main ballroom.  The room was huge, with many tables and chairs--there were at least 100 people at the banquet, easily.  All the conference attendees were quiet, listening to the main speaker for the event as he spoke about the main focus of the conference--which everyone would quickly forget as soon as the conference ended, as people normally do for those sorts of things.  The main speaker finished his piece and, motioning to the waiting staff, invited the conference-goers to, "Dig in!"

All of the guests were eating and enjoying themselves as the hotel staff served them by clearing tables and making sure that their beverages stayed full.  The staff did such a good job that the guests didn't even notice they were there!  Due to the good time that the guests were having, the banquet dragged on, and the staff faithfully stayed to serve; however, unknown to the hotel's guests, the staff members that were serving had already pulled a double shift and were getting tired.  Outside of the banquet hall, two staff members leaned into a corner and began to go to sleep.

At that moment, one of the waiters walked out of the banquet hall (no names are given at this point, but we'll call this one Stephen).  Spotting his two co-workers, Stephen approached them and woke them.  Startled, one said, "Ah!  ...oh...it's you, Stephen.  Just let me get a few minutes to sleep.  I've been working all day and I'm tired."  Stephen replied, "I understand, bro, but remember Who we represent!  Let's be found diligent in our work and faithful in our service to Him!  C'mon guys, let's get back to work."  So the three of them re-entered the banquet hall.

They were greeted with three angry faces.  "While you guys were out there slacking off, we've run out of water!" said one of the men.  "What type of sham is this hotel running?!"  Realizing that it was the staff members with him that were in charge of beverages, Stephen quickly apologized and started to help his co-laborers refill the beverage station.  However, due to exhaustion, one of the staff members dropped the container of water in mid-lift, spilling its contents all over the floor.  At that moment, all talking in the banquet hall ceased, and a sea of upset and indignant faces focused on the "incompetent staff member" who had disturbed the peace of their conference.

The conference speaker arose out of his seat and marched dutifully to the scene of the incident, and proceeded to shout at the embarrassed staff member!  The same three men from earlier joined in, adding in side comments about how lazy the staff member was.  Stephen looked up from the beverage table and quickly got the crowd's attention with a loud "EXCUSE ME!"  Once again, the banquet hall was silent, as all eyes focused on Stephen.  Then Stephen began to speak:

"We apologize for disrupting the status quo of your banquet.  We have been working hard for the past 24 hrs. and many of us have grown tired.  Still, we have fought hard to uphold the basic tenants of what we believe!"  As he said this, he motioned to a banner on the wall that displayed the Bible passage:  Psalm 119:1-9.  Stephen continued, explaining the Scripture reference.  From there, he shared the Gospel with the entire room.  During the whole time, everyone present was speechless and attentive to him.  Stephen finished by asking the question, "So what will you do with what I have told you?"  Then, he walked over to his fallen co-laborer, helped him up, refilled the beverage station, and went about his duties.  The banquet ended shortly after, as the guests pondered deeply Stephen's words.  The conference leaders immediately went to the hotel manager to have Stephen fired for speaking to them in such a manner.  Stephen didn't care, for he was happy to have been given the opportunity to stand in the gap, reaching souls for Christ.

 I'm pretty sure you can easily see why this encouraged me!  Just like the Stephen in Acts 6-7, the Stephen in my dream would have had to be spending time in good fellowship with the Lord to show such a balance of boldness and restraint.  So, in the spirit of Stephen from my dream, what will you do with what I have told you?  What will I do?  Let us be a people who seizes the opportunities God gives us to glorify Him!  Let us praise Him with blameless service on the job!  Let us worship Him with our time throughout our days--not just in the mornings or at night!  Let us honor Him by making Him known to the nations--starting with those closest to us!  AMEN!