The Mini's

Meet Mini Mike

So after the show today I had a few errands to run and while I was driving around town I decided to swing by "Mini Mike's" house. You may remember him. We talked about my friend who takes extra ketchup and mayo and mustard packets from fast food places and uses those to stock his fridge. When he's out of town he even helps himself to hotel mini's too. The mini soaps and shampoos and such.

Now I have changed his name to protect his identity from my friends who know him and read my blog or listen to the morning show.

First thing I do as I walk into his place is ask him, "So did you hear my show about a month ago". Now I know "Mike" pretty well and I knew he would never be upset about my talking about his habit of taking minis on the airwaves of Tampa Bay. But when I asked him that, he just started laughing a little bit. Not your typical "I'm thinking back to a funny memory" kind of chuckle, it was more of a "You have no idea what you have done" kind of chuckle.

As I follow him in to his kitchen he says to me, "When was the last time you've seen my fridge?" Thinking back I say, "Well since I was last here and discovered your love affair with mini packs of ketchup from Chick-fil-A." Again, with the same creepy laugh as he opens the door and says, "I want to show you something."

Honestly, for a split second I flashed to scene from a serial killer thriller movie which will remain nameless of when the main bad guy offers to show the main good guy something and of course that thing he wants to show the main good guy is something really terrible that throws the man in to an emotional spiral. As he opened the refrigerator door I was expecting something terrible, I was expecting to see the head of a Chick-fil-A cow costume or something. Instead I saw!

Nothing. No more mini's. The bowls of ketchup and mayo and mustard packets are gone. Replaced with actual bottles of the stuff. He looks up and laughs at me. I guess when he sees the look of shock on my face. To bad is was more of a look of relief from not seeing a Chick-fil-A costume cow head staring me in the face. He said that he did hear the segment and heard all the callers and realized that maybe what he was doing was a little wrong. That maybe it was taking advantage of the system. So he used up what he had left and at the age of 27 he went out and bought his first jar of mayo and bottles of mustard and ketchup. Of course I asked him, "You really went 27 years without buying a single bottle of ketchup?" Proudly, he says, "Yup. Sure did and now thanks to you that streak is over. But it's all good."

Amazing. One, that he went 27 years without purchasing a single bottle of ketchup and two, that my little morning show made a difference is someones life. Granted it wasn't one of those ground breaking or life changing events. But sometimes, some of God's greatest lessons come in the little things. Maybe one day he'll look back on me and this day and realize something really profound. Maybe not. Either way, it was cool to see that people are really out there, really listening to two people named Carlos and Abby just trying to be themselves and live out loud for the Glory of God in a crazy and sometimes messed up world.

Thanks for listening! God Bless.

Carlos