Holy Foods

 As you might already know, I've been working part-time for Whole Foods. I work on the one right on the university of Utah campus. Well, a couple months ago the Vice President of Whole Foods made a visit to our store (this is considered a HUGE deal... we spent an absurd amount of time prepping the store for his visit...) The day finally came and our store management was a frantic, hysterical mess. They were so nervous :) When the VP arrived you would've thought that President Obama had come to Whole Foods do a little shopping.... because, hey, who doesn't like to spend $15 for a banana?! Anywho, I couldn't help but laugh at all of the hullabaloo... Then I thought to myself "I gotta meet this guy... What do I have to lose?" So, as the lowly stock-boy, I positioned myself so that when he was walking down the soup aisle with his entourage, I would be there fixing cans of Annie's Organic Chicken Wild Rice. As he approached, I stood up, blocked his way, stuck out my hand, and said "Hello! I'm Dan..." I was pleased to find out that he was one of the nicest and most genuine guys I've met in a long time. I asked him where he lived and when he said “Austin, Texas....” I said “Hey! I’m gonna be in Austin in a month!” “What for?” he asked... “Oh, I’m going to a YoungLife leadership conference... it’s an organization I work for.” Apparently, he knew what YoungLife was and was really excited to learn that a Whole Foods employee also works for a, as he put it, “non-profit, community minded organization” Yeah, sure!

Well, a couple days later, my store manager came and sat with me at lunch (another rare occurrence... apparently he doesn’t sit and gab with the grocery team much) He had caught wind that I had that conversation with the V.P. and he asked me if I would speak at the next all-store meeting...

“Sure!” I said, “What do you want me to speak about?”

He answered “I want you to share about what it is you do for YoungLife...”

“Ok... (insert spit-take here) What? Really!?!?”

I knew for a fact that he had no idea that YoungLife is a Christian based ministry.... and soon I would be speaking to 100+ people about YoungLife... how God loves us, forgives us and wants to be in a relationship with us. I was going to be sharing with one of the most unique and challenging audiences in the U.S. I am amazed by the number of people I meet here who are spiteful and resentful towards God. There are still more who are utterly complacent and have no desire either way.

Been working there 2 months... and already... this.