I never...

While I was shopping I ran into someone at the store. I said hi and after saying hi they whispered, “I never shop here, like never, but wouldn’t you know that I’d run into someone that knew me the moment I did.”
I thought it was kind of a funny thing to say. I mean, we weren’t in some place to be embarrassed about. I shop the store quite often for groceries and other things, but this person seemed a little bothered to be seen there.

The whole instance made me start thinking about when I might have “I never...” moments. Moments when I was embarrassed about a choice I had made. Maybe it was a song that I listened to or a movie that I watched.

I remember someone talking about a particular TV show and thinking, “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe this person watches that show. I mean, I watched it but I wouldn’t go around telling everyone that I watched it.” (That was my clear indicator that I shouldn’t have watched it in the first place.)

We’re not going to do everything alike. We all have different tastes in the stores we shop, the movies and shows we watch, the music we listen to, the clothes we wear, etc.

But one thing, as Christians, that we should keep at the front of our mind at all times is this.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All power in heaven and on earth is given to me. So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything that I have taught you, and I will be with you always, even until the end of this age.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28:18-20‬ ‭NCV‬‬

Jesus/God/Holy Spirit they are with us always. When we sit down to listen to music, when we sit down to watch TV, when we pull up the computer, when we go shopping. I don’t say this so you suddenly become paranoid. I say this so we can take into consideration what we choose to do.
Are the places we’re visiting and choices we’re making things that we’d embarrassed for God to know about. (Not that He doesn’t know about them anyway.) Would we visit the same places and make the same choices if Jesus was in the flesh right next to us?
I could kayak down the river with Jesus jamming out to some “Chicken Fried”, “Up Around the Bend”, “Livin’ on a Prayer” but there’s a few on my playlist that I might have to say, “Oh here let me skip that one, Lord, it’s lyrics aren’t the best.”
The point is that we should be alert at all times. We should focus on what is good and pleasing to God. When we are, we are less likely to find ourselves in a “I never expected to be found here” situation.