Advice to a Drunken Man

Recently, I stopped into a McDonalds at the top of the day to have a Sausage McMuffin with Egg and Cheese, my favorite out-of-home breakfast.  As I was finishing up at the cash register a gentleman came up to me and asked if I would deposit some money on his McDonalds gift card.

Clearly inebriated, this gentleman, who later told me that his name was Scott, had been having a rough time and chosen to find solace that early morning in a bottle.  Nevertheless, I did as he asked and put some money on his card so that he could get something to eat.

He was most grateful and began a conversation during which he described many of his life’s challenges and the hopes and dreams that he has, even for attracting the attention of a woman.  At some point, he asked how he could get her to notice him and to know that he cared.
At about that time a woman standing nearby piped in and said, “just keep putting one foot in front of another, Scott.
Day after day, just keep putting one foot in front in front of another.”

I was, candidly, more focused on my sandwich than I was on Scott or what this woman said.  But Scott took note, and he began to tell a story of how he, at one point, drank much more heavily than he does now, and he wandered away.

Not five minutes later Scott came back to say thank you and to say how much of a blessing it was to get a meal that morning.  He went on further to say that he’d gotten a job.  Just in that abbreviated period of time, someone had offered him a job, which he was excited to take.  And once again, the woman standing nearby, on her way out of the restaurant said, “just keep putting one foot in front of the other, Scott.”

Scott startled me then when he stopped and offered a word of prayer – for his food, for his job and for forgiveness of his shortcomings.

It was quite amazing that morning to start off the day by giving a small gift to someone who’d fallen on hard times, and to have the privilege of saying a prayer with him.  But as I’ve thought about that experience in the ensuing days, it strikes me how powerful the advice was that he got from the woman standing nearby.  “Just to keep putting one foot in front of the other.”

All of us, from time to time, have difficult days, weeks,long nights, challenging work environments, tough situations at home, and even circumstances that we’re not exactly sure how to work our way out of.  “Drunk” with our own situations and challenges, it is in those moments that I think that we would do well to take the advice of a woman at McDonalds to a man who was down on his luck, and just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

One foot in front of the other that day brought Scott in from the curb to a McDonalds, where he got a hot meal and a cup of coffee.  And then one more foot in front of the other led him to a place where he got an unexpected job opportunity.  And then, yet one additional foot in front of the other provided me the opportunity to be blessed by his prayer.

So, placing one foot in front of the other can, indeed, take us a long way.  So, when we are faced with tough times, I’d encourage all of us to keep in mind the image of Scott, the drunken man at McDonalds who received some unexpected advice that resulted some unexpected blessings.  The advice that he received is the advice that we too can receive – just keep putting one foot in front of another.