Rev. Mark David Albertson
I wasn’t expecting a holy moment between the canned soup and the boxed pasta.
But there she was, an older woman holding a grocery list in one hand and wiping her eyes with the other.
I hesitated.
Would I be intruding?
Would it be weird?
I decided awkward kindness is better than polite avoidance.
I asked if she was okay.
She told me her husband had just died, and she didn’t know how to cook for one person.
We stood there for a while.
I didn’t have any magic words.
I just listened.
And right there in the fluorescent light of aisle six, I thought of the Good Samaritan.
Not because I was the hero of the story — I wasn’t.
But because sacred encounters don’t wait for stained-glass settings.
They happen when love interrupts our errands.
When she hugged me before we parted, I felt like I had been ministered to.
She reminded me that God’s presence isn’t something we bring into a place.
It’s already there, waiting to be noticed.
You might meet God today in the checkout line.
Or in a traffic jam.
Or while walking the dog.
Where have you experienced a holy moment in an unexpected place?
