How a cell phone cover kiosk operator can inspire ministry

My wife needed a cell phone cover and we headed to the mall "because they have the best selection at those kiosk things."

There was one particular kiosk that we visited because the young lady working there connected with Kim the last time she visited.

Kim came from work where she wears scrubs.  It was the end of the day and the kiosk operator as she helped Kim find a suitable cell phone cover seemed desperate, tired, fried.  The kiosk operator began to ask Kim about where she worked and how she got the necessary education and how one becomes somebody who does what Kim does.

On our visit together, we visited the same young lady and the same kiosk.  She was very helpful and seemed in better spirits and didn't seem so desperate to do something, anything different that what she was doing.

I identified with the plight of the kiosk operator.  I too have periods of time where I find myself tired, desperate, fried in my efforts at professional church work.

I was thinking about how the kiosk operator could without having to go to school or wear scrubs maybe find more happiness and purpose.

What I pondered if she began thinking of herself not as a kiosk operator, but someone who helps others "find the right thing".

I would imagine lots of people bug her about where is this and where is that.  Maybe she could print up little maps of the mall (with her contact info and website link on it of course) and help them find what they are looking for.  Where do you think they will come the next time they do need a cell phone cover?

Are there different cell phone covers that work better in certain situations?  When is squishy right and when is hard right.  She probably always knows this, but when I ask which is better, she says, "hard".  Maybe she could ask me what is my particular situation- do I keep the phone in my pocket mostly, am I blue collar or white collar, etc. and make a specific recommendation based on that.

What is the future of cell phone covers?  What might I experiment with to see if people will try? What are other kiosk operators doing?  Who else feels burned out and desperate.  Maybe she could organize a small group of burned out exhausted kiosk operators who could meet regularly and adopt of cause of being the most helpful, connected network of mall kiosk operators there are.

I have already started to incorporate these ideas as they relate to ministry and church work.

I will see myself as someone who helps others "find the right thing" in their spiritual journey.

But I realize the most important thing the kiosk operator is already doing that I aspire to in ministry:  she allowed herself to be venerable to someone she didn't know.

It created such a strong bond in a few moments of interaction with a random customer that her kiosk was the first place that customer wanted to go the next time she needed a cell phone cover.

So it turns out that it wasn't the superior selection that made my wife think of that little kiosk in the middle of that huge mall after all.