Distressed

Sunday we started a new, very brief, series on rethinking what missions are all about, and we looked at 1 Samuel 22:1-2, where David goes to Adullam, and the distressed, in debt and discontent (400 in all) came to follow him. The point was, we are better missionaries if we are imperfect, not all shined up--HUMAN.
God's sense of humor was evident on Monday.
We decided to go grocery shopping. Not really that we had a choice if we wanted to eat that day, but the timing was poor. Sunday we had helped with move in on campus, so we realized that the college students were back. We forgot that them being back meant they needed food. Apparently all of them, at the same time.
Normally Kristin goes around 6:30 a.m., largely because she does the Grocery Game and it gives her plenty of time and space to do it. For whatever reason, this day we went at 4:30 in the afternoon, and all four of us went to HEB.
Now, you need to understand that this HEB is designed in such a way that from the time you enter the parking lot until you leave you are fighting, clawing, and bleeding until you leave the parking lot- on an excellent day of shopping. The lanes are small with little directional designation, the aisles are for the first half of the store maze-like, the second half they are narrow, and the open spaces are filled with sale items and kiosks selling specialty products, and occasionally someone apparently giving cooking lessons.
This day we faced these things and what seemed like thousands of college students. The distress hit me first- I was left to find Sunny Delight with the girls ( who are in their car cart, which is slightly more difficult to steer than a forty foot bus). I never found it, and instead got into such a trance of overwhelmed-ness that when Kristin found me, she talked to me, but I heard nothing. So I then got to go look for things on my own, because I feared losing Leslie and Kenna if I was in charge of their care any longer.
While I wandered looking for the elusive Parmesan cheese (seriously, I think the stockers try to make it impossible to find this product- not with cheese, or salad stuff, or condiments), I noticed that the college students were equally distressed. The girls worked in packs of 4-6, effectively blocking the too-small aisles. The guys wandered around, often mumbling something about nacho cheese, then calling mom to find out where stuff might be in the store. If the guys were in groups of two or more, there was nervous laughter as each one tried to play off that they weren't nervous about not finding the sustenance they sought.
Kristin, meanwhile, hit her distress. The crush of people had gotten to her and all she wanted was to get out. When she found me, she looked like she had seen a ghost, which was possible given the chaos ensuing all around us.
As we finally escaped the store, the girls having survived with little fussing, it dawned on me how relevant the overwhelming event we had just gone through was to our duty as missionaries. All around us are people just as distressed, but we too often are so focused on our own survival that we don't see them, or we do and just don't think to feel compassion and help them. Imagine living a life where everyday is "40,000 College Students Return and Are Hungry" day, and you are overwhelmed and crushed and overlooked and lost. But instead of being able to find the Parmesan and get out, what you seek cannot be found- unless someone who knows where it is tells you. But they are too caught up in their own affairs to care.
We must wake, and realize that our trials are preparing us to help others with theirs. And sometimes, we are still going through that trial when those around us need us.
And the Parmesan is by the snack food aisle--this time.