At work there is this busser named Troy. He is a weathered ole fella, around 45 or so. His hands are hardened from use and abuse from moving furniture during the day, and bussing tables at night.
Troy smokes cigarettes like someone who has lit a few heaters in his day. And, eerily, he looks like an older, smaller version of Viggo Mortensen. Strange, but very true. Every time i see Troy i expect him to shout “Let the lord of the Black Land come forth! Let justice be done upon him!” Like Aragorn does in Return of the King. But he never does, to my perpetual disappointment. He is one of those guys who is really thin, but strong as a bull. If you look at him, you might think he is frail or weak. But no, Troy typically stacks trays so heavy and so high that they have to weigh 50+ pounds. He is deceptively strong. There is a term for this – Man Strong. Troy is Man Strong. He was in the Navy for a period of time, and he also used to weigh over 200 lbs. Now he’s probably at 130 or 140. Troy is a hilariously dry, deep, and knowledgeable ole son of a gun. He’s a quiet fellow, who keeps to himself most of the time. But ever so often he utters some sort of witty quip under his breath. The other night one of the other bussers told him jokingly that he would “fight him right now.” Troy replied quietly, “well pack a lunch son,” with a wry smile on his lined face and walked away. If i am in a scrap, i want Troy on my side for sure. Troy goes the extra mile for his servers. He is the best busser they have. I tell him he’s the best only because he’s the oldest. He just laughs at that and says, “good one kid.” Troy doesn’t mince words. He calls things like he sees it, like any rough codger does. One time he came up to me and said, “The lesbo at 41 needs more lemonade.” And walked away. “Thanks Troy.” I called back.Troy’s not perfect by any means. But neither am i. The other day I saw Troy spot a dime on the floor like a falcon spots a salmon swimming in a river. So Troy dove at that dime in a manner that the Falcon would be proud, picked it up and looked right at me and said, “A dime is a dime” and walked away. Very true Troy, very true. A wise man doesn’t forget the value of something as small as a dime. That is the lesson i learned that night. Then i thought about God, and how he doesn’t take for granted the value of something as small as a human. Something as small as me or you. Not only does God not forget, but He pursues us, pursued us, with precision and urgency. Like a falcon after a salmon, or like Troy after a dime. But instead of eating us, or putting us in his pocket like the other two examples, God just wants to love us. To protect us. So in a way, maybe God does want to put us in his pocket. That was a lesson i needed that night. And God used Troy to tell me. Later that night Troy gave me a lengthy synopsis of what cabbage does to one’s colon. Which was kind of fascinating, actually. Lets just say i won’t be eating cabbage unless i absolutely have to. So here is to guys that may be easy to overlook, but if you take the time to notice you will learn about all sorts of wisdom – cabbage or dimes or otherwise.