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Have you ever been frustrated by a relationship that you just can’t make work? I’m not talking about the relationships that are close and vital that sometimes get cracked or broken, but about the random people you run into on a regular basis — the lady who checks you out every week at the grocery store, your mail deliverer, your neighbor from down the street with the nasty dog in the backyard — that make part of your life consistently unpleasant at times. You can’t avoid them and you can’t make them like you, so every unavoidable encounter is unpleasant or, at best, awkward.

For years, the Lord and I have been playing a game with these people. I talk to Him about them, and He gives me clues about how to win them over. When Jesus and I coax the first smile out of them, we have a wonderful celebration together. The first time they actually say something pleasant, we really whoop it up! Not so the person sees, of course — that might destroy all we’ve accomplished! — but in the privacy of my car on the way home.

Many years ago, this little game began between Jesus and me through my reading 2 Corinthians 3:15-16. “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?” I had read that passage in my morning devotions, not paying a lot of attention, frankly. Later that morning I was at the grocery store and a customer was really rude to me. I tried to be nice and not take offense at her, but I kept running into her and every encounter brought another rudeness. At the check-out, the clerk commented on this woman’s attitude (she had checked out just ahead of me). “Somebody needs to wash the stinky off her upper lip so she’ll stop turning up her nose at everyone!” the clerk said.

We both laughed and the tension was defused but the unpleasant woman was definitely still an irritation in my soul. On the way home I began to ask the Lord about her. He said, “To her, you stink. You have BO.” Instantly, I remembered my devotional reading and understood. The fragrance of Christ in me was a stench to her! I had Body odor (as in Body-of-Christ odor)! Fantastic! It wasn’t anything I had done that irritated her, it was Jesus in me. I smelled like His Body!

I was instantly inspired to begin targeting this woman with the love of Jesus — and the Lord was my co-conspirator. I began to run into her everywhere, and once noticed, I became an observer of her. I came to realize that she did not drive and that she was never with friends. I saw her pushing her little shopping cart along the roadside in all kinds of weather, so one day I stopped and offered her a ride to the grocery store. We got the cart into the trunk and her into the front seat, but I don’t think she said a single word on the drive to the store. I offered to meet her after our shopping and give her a ride home. Still no words, but she did give a yes-nod.

The giving of rides became a regular thing between us, but conversation has never taken place. Once I was given a sturdy metal cart that folded. I put it in my trunk and the next time I offered her a ride I gave it to her. That made the ride offers much easier for both of us, but I still, to this day, do not know her name!

This lady was the first of many who reacted to my BO and became the target of my Jesus Game. I shared it with Michael and he has become an avid player as well. We never push a relationship, but we do try to go a bit out of our way to express thoughtfulness to them. In fact, this game we play with Jesus actually requires that the more rudeness they show, the more love is required of us. Fun! There have been some amazing break-throughs! There was a “Customer Service” person in the Walmart to whom Michael was very gracious who ended up pouring out her heart and her troubles to him while he waited for me. She let him pray for her and even accepted his invitation to church. There was a surly bag-boy at the Big Star that I eventually had the privilege of praying with to accept Jesus.

Eventually, I moved away from the town where the cart lady lives and did not see her for several years. But a few weeks ago Michael and I were riding through that town and he pointed and said to me, “Isn’t that your old friend with the shopping cart?”

I looked where he pointed, and there on the corner, with the old folding shopping cart, was my rude friend, waving AND SMILING to catch my attention. It was the FIRST TIME I had seen that smile! Michael and I (and Jesus) had a grand celebration!