where seldom is heard a discouraging word

A year ago, I was at a family reunion near Vail, Colorado when I heard my grandfather say something most out of sorts. We were in a resort town way up in the mountains, and surprisingly, most of the workers at our hotel spoke Spanish. I tried to go check on the status of my room one day and come to find out, no one on the floor spoke English. They were all a group of young immigrant girls who were there to turn down rooms for a living, and for the most part, they had little reason to converse with guests.

So my grandfather, recognizing this might be his last opportunity to seek the well-being of his relationally sluggish grandchild, decided to seize the moment and equip me to make a move. Now you have to understand that my grandpa is in his late 70’s and is a missionary to Mexico. He has always been a hardworking father of eight, and I have never heard anything even remotely inappropriate come out of his mouth.

You can imagine my surprise then later when he came up and started to outline the basics of picking up Spanish women. He told me how to say, “You are beautiful,” “I once visited Mexico,” and “Can you bring me another towel?”

My grandpa, my dear, sweet, never-harm-a-fly-in-his-life grandpa, was helping me put the moves on Spanish cleaning ladies. This dear, sweet, missionary-hearted man of God gave me a list of phrases in Spanish, and then he said, “And if that gets you to first base, come back and I’ll give you some more!”

Oh grandpa, I hope you’re doing well this time of year. Thanks for your concern of my singleness. Can’t say the phrases did me much good, but I’m still doing just fine.

To everyone else: Has someone you respect as tender-hearted ever really surprised you with something they said?