Today is our anniversary–18 years. Pastor Tim called attention to it during the service, and asked me the secret to marriage. Standing at the keyboard, I moved to my microphone and said, “Listen to my wife and do everything she says.” The ladies seemed to enjoy my response.

After church Pam and I ate at Biaggis, a wonderful Italian restaurant. We go there maybe once a year, and often in conjunction with our anniversary. The place is expensive. Our bill, before tip, was an uncannily even $50. I had Shrimp Oregonata, which I order nearly every time.

As we sat down, we heard a large group sing “The Doxology.” Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise him all creatures here below….”. That was their prayer for the meal. It was a good-sized church group, mostly older people. And that got me to thinking about the mere idea of holding a church get-together at a place like Biaggis.

We would never do that at Anchor. Unthinkably expensive. Some people could afford it, but not most. For too many, going to Lee’s Chicken would be as much as they could afford…if that. I remember when we took Carolyn and Allen to Bob Evans, and Allen, in 27 years, had never eaten there. At a Bob Evans.

But here was a large church group, and when they asked each other, “Where should we go to eat?”, somebody suggested Biaggis, and everyone said, “That sounds good.” For those people who thanked God for whom all blessings flow, money is not an issue. I think I can safely assume that their church is located in the suburbs.

And they would probably be puzzled by my musings. I would have been puzzled, before we went to Anchor eight years ago. I saw no problem with eating at nice restaurants; it was something to which we were entitled, due to our incomes. We gave it no thought. The position of the poor in Fort Wayne was nowhere on our radar. Being a good Republican, I would have argued that if poor people got off their duffs and worked, they could have flowing blessings and eat at places like Biaggis, too. Simplistic and naive and clueless and altogether wrong. I’m sure God just smiled and thought, “Steve dosn’t get it now, but someday he’ll at least start to get it.”

But the underclasses are firmly on my radar now. I think about our flow of blessings all the time, and the comparative lack of flowing blessings among other people who also love God. People who are now my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ. I reflected on the act of paying $50 for a meal, even once a year for a special anniversary meal. I am very pleased that I think about this stuff all the time. Because I once was oblivious, and now I’m not. Jesus was never oblivious about this.