Sermons on the Side

63 | Bed Bath & Beyond

Richard Moore & Brad Williams Episode 63

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0:00 | 29:26

What happens when a simple trip to the store turns into a moment you never forget? 

In this episode, Brad shares the now-legendary Bed, Bath & Beyond story - from a wedding with hundreds of people, to stacks of gift cards, to a checkout moment that didn’t make sense on paper… but made perfect sense in real life. 

What started as a routine shopping trip with a plan quickly became something much deeper and picture of something much greater: the beauty of community and the overwhelming nature of grace. When people show up - really show up - it changes things. It lifts burdens. It fills gaps. It reminds us that we were never meant to do life alone. 

This conversation leans into the truth that biblical community has the amazing opportunity to show the very grace of God to people - and when we do, it has a way of leaving us speechless. 

If you’ve ever experienced a moment where provision, generosity, or your very own five-loaves-and-two-fish experience… this one’s for you!

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SPEAKER_04

Welcome to Sermons on the Side. I'm Brad. And I'm Richard. And life can move pretty fast. So we're here to slow down, dig deep, and find the story hidden in everyday moments.

SPEAKER_00

With years spent in ministry, friendship, and navigating real life together, we're all about blending humor, honesty, and faith into conversations that meet you right where you are.

SPEAKER_04

So whether you're brand new or you're back for more, we are so glad you are here.

SPEAKER_00

So relax, listen in, and let's discover meaning together.

SPEAKER_04

In the ordinary, the messy, and everything in between.

SPEAKER_00

Sermons on the side, finding meaning in the everyday.

SPEAKER_04

And we just, we didn't even take a tally. We just, if it was a gift card, thhoink, just dumped it in there.

SPEAKER_01

Into the great sound effect.

SPEAKER_04

Think is the production value on this podcast. There's a reason that this, we've had a lot of country new countries, new listeners. Shout out to all of our international folks if y'all are out there. That's some good quality production right now. Think.

SPEAKER_00

Hey, hey, what do you say? It is Sermons on the Side today. What do you think of your mind? That was awesome.

SPEAKER_03

I didn't turn that into the new intro. Hey, hey, what do you say? Welcome to Sermons on the Side.

SPEAKER_00

You know, people did ask for more state. Don't think that's what they had in mind.

SPEAKER_04

That's awesome, dude.

SPEAKER_00

Man, it is great to be here. How are you feeling?

SPEAKER_04

I feel great. Hey, I gotta tell you, congratulations to you, by the way. You have gone a whole week without texting me something that's not spelled wrong. So I don't know if you're just stepping up your top-to-text game. Well, I, you know.

SPEAKER_00

But I have, you know, I've received- I don't want to make it all about me.

SPEAKER_04

You get one hand up stopping me and then the other hand up telling me.

SPEAKER_00

Seriously. No, it is all good. And uh, so I'm trying. You are succeeding. Maybe I'm coachable.

SPEAKER_04

Hey, I just gotta throw this out there as a teaser. I don't know if and when we're ever gonna tell this story. Okay. And we're not telling it now. But a top five moment happened with you and I in person this past Thursday. And I just listen, if you ever catch us out in the wild, okay, we're not we're not gonna tell the story on air, but just know that it involved us and a banker. That's all you need to know. Just ask us what the banker story is. Oh, it's oh it was top tier. I mean, might be Mount Rushmore moments of our relationship, and it's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00

That's all I'm gonna say. I really I don't know. I think it could be a segment one day. Oh, okay. It's just such a good I'm hurting even thinking about that. But listen, welcome everyone to another episode. We are thankful, as always, for you guys. We love hearing uh the great feedback we've been getting. Oh, you know what? I wanted to mention uh one of our listeners, you know, just one of our most uh loyal listeners is Mr. David Orenstein. Yes, you know, he's a big big Metz fan, he's just a great guy. New York Giants. Yes, and he has he almost always leaves comments on Spotify every single week. And we just want to say thank you, yes, sir, David. You are a blessing to us, Mr. Met man. I tell you what, and when he you know leaves a comment, he always just throws a little tidbit about his own life in there, how the episodes connecting with him. So for David and all the other listeners who drop us a comment every once in a while, we cannot thank you enough.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, we appreciate y'all so much.

SPEAKER_00

And uh shout out to David O. David O. Come on now. Hey, we're in for a huge treat because our sermons on the side today is coming from one, Brad Williams. You have been a couple of weeks ago, you told me a story that blew my mind so much I could not wait for it to be a sermons on the side.

SPEAKER_04

I can't remember if I even teased it out on the podcast, did I?

SPEAKER_00

Did we? I don't know. Do you feel ready for this?

SPEAKER_04

Dude, I'm very excited. Our people are ready. Okay, even just recounting it in my mind and making sure all my facts are straight with Lisa, this is just an insane story to me, even like as I'm telling this. Okay, so you got to go back a little about 12 years ago. Okay, so when Lisa and I got married in March of 2014, holy moly. Goodness, that was right on the edge, okay, of when weddings didn't have to be these like massive productions. Oh, that's right. Because now, forget about oh, dude, it's insane. And honestly, I remember having this thought for our wedding. I was like, should we should we have one of those hashtag thingies? Like that was I'm serious, just starting starting. Just kind of starting. And then over the course of I just think it was a couple of years, that was when weddings kind of took on a life of their own, and it had to be this event. You had to order, you know, everybody had to have a sit-down meal and a and a band, you know. But you didn't do a hashtag. We didn't do a hashtag, nope. We didn't do a video, we didn't do a band. We got married in our childhood church that we grew up in. There you go. And I promise you, we put two open invitations to our weddings in two different church bulletins.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. That was how you got the word out there.

SPEAKER_04

Well, we also sent out like actual invitations to like friends and family, which was a very, very long list. But like nowadays, when I hear people go, Man, I had a huge wedding. I had like 160 people there. Dude, I had the biggest wedding ever. We had like 180 people, you know, blah blah blah. I promise you, talk to me. I promise you, we had 800 people at our wedding, dude. Is that you're not exaggerating? No, no, I'm not exaggerating. I promise you. It looked like Easter Sunday at the church that we I'm not kidding. It was insane. But here's the deal. You want to know why you can do that? Is because afterwards we didn't go to a different location. We just walked down to the the conference center of the church. We gave everybody like graham crackers or scoop of mac and cheese, and like, ah, chicken finger. We had a reception line and then we hottailed it. We were out of there. I mean, so simple, so easy. But the back in the day. Take me back to those days, dude. But seriously, anyways, you literally, I am so old, I feel like it was just I got married in a different time. I don't regret anything. I I love our wedding, I love the memories, I love the photos, I love everyone that attended. It was just a super special day. But I have to tell you all of that because it sets up what happened when Lisa and I returned back from our honeymoon and we really kind of unpacked all of these gifts. Now, of course, for weddings, you get registered at different places. We got registered at Macy's and we also got registered at Bed Bath and Beyond. You remember Bed Bath and Beyond? I miss Bed Bath and Beyond. Do you really?

SPEAKER_00

That was a cool story. That was a great story. You just never know what you're gonna see.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, so here's the thing Bed Bath and Beyond, which, oh, by the way, is still in business, not in Columbus. And it might be for this reason, for this story that we're gonna get into. It was you, wasn't it? It was me all those years ago. They never recovered. But one of the things that they did is if you signed up and did your registry with them, okay, about once a quarter, all of the weddings that had a registry with Bed Bath and Beyond, you would come back on a specific Saturday, and anything that was left over, this is what they told us. Anything that was left over on your registry that wasn't purchased for your wedding, okay, you can get at like a 25% discount. Well, like a like a really steep discount. And so, because of that perk, we registered a lot of things at Bed Bath and Beyond. Even a couple of higher ticket items that we we actually told friends and family, hey, they don't buy this for us, we're just trying to get the 20% discount, you know, kind of deal.

SPEAKER_01

See, that's a good note.

SPEAKER_04

And so everybody that was our friend and family, and you know, they they would they'd buy us a gift, but the 600 people that just were coming just to come because they saw an open invitation to Bulletin, or we were the worship leaders at the church that they attended, they would probably just, you know, buy us a little gift card. And very easy gift card back in the day was to Bed, Bath and Beyond. So when we get back from our honeymoon, are you tracking with me? I'm I'm weird, bro. We had so many Bed, Bath and Beyond gift cards that we just, I was like, I can't even keep count. We got one of those gallon-sized Ziploc baggies, and we just we didn't even take a tally. We just, if it was a gift card, thwink, just dumped it in there.

SPEAKER_01

Into the great sound effect, bro.

SPEAKER_04

The production value on this podcast. There's a reason that this we've had a lot of country, new countries, new listeners. Shout out to all of our international folks, if y'all are out there. That's some good quality production right now. Think. So I'm thwinking all these gift cards into this basket, into this bag, and it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

SPEAKER_01

And they're and and there are all these bed baths. This is crazy. It's unbelievable. Okay, wow.

SPEAKER_04

So then, so then we get to a situation where we got multiples of some things. We actually got like two crock pots. And it's like, well, why do we need two crock pots? So we'll take one crock pot back, you know. And so we had this little group of items that kind of grew to a good little chunk of items that we were gonna return. To Bed Bath and Beyond. Okay. All to Bed Bath and Beyond. And so here we go. The Saturday is here. It was a couple of Saturdays later. We've we've moved in, we're playing house, and bless Lisa's heart. I moved out of my house with my mom and my stepdad and moved into a house with my wife. So she's the first and only roommate I've ever had. So y'all pray for my wife, Lisa, because she's still struggling with me. Uh, so we go to Bed Bath and Beyond, okay? And we we actually bring a cart out to our car. Oh, because you got the crock pocket. You got all the stuff. Return. So we we we fill up about a half a cart's worth of stuff that we're returning. And we walk in there and we go find the store manager. Oh, hey, we're so-and-so, we're here for that, you know, anything left on the registry. And she kind of beat us to the punch. She said, Yep, yep, that's right. Anything in the store is 25% off for y'all today.

unknown

Wait.

SPEAKER_04

And I said, I said, I'm sorry, can you say that again? It's it's anything that's left on our registry. And she said, No, no, no, it's 25 off the entire store. 25% off the entire store, whatever you want. I looked at Lisa and I was like, oh my goodness, we finna go shopping. Dude, that was next level. So obviously, we knew we wanted like some curtains and some drapes and some other, you know, but then we could, hey, we could go buy like a really nice vacuum or some other things, you know. And so we we started going a little crazy. I got a shopping cart and I said, You want this? Point. Put it in the shopping cart. Heck yeah. Oh my goodness. I filled that shopping cart all the way to the brim. Okay, okay. Parked it in the corner, went and got another one, went and got another one. We filled two shopping carts worth of stuff, and it was about halfway through that second one. I went, hold on a second. I should probably start thinking about the money here. Because I know we've got some things that we've got to return. Okay, so you're we've probably got a good chunk of money that's you know in gift cards, but that looks like a lot of stuff right over there. And so this is the part that kind of gets nutty. So we go to the checkout, and then what they want to do first is they want to scan everything in that we're purchasing.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04

So yeah, all right, before anything returns, yeah, before 25% off, before returns, before gift cards, you know, whatever. So they just start scanning. Beep, beep, beep, how much are curtains? Beep, beep, how much are curtain rods? We ain't gotta put them over every window, baby. Put them back. Beep, beep. That vacuum's how much money, dude. You talk about buyer's remorse. I'm watching that tiny little digital screen that's facing the customers, right? Beep, beep, it climbed all the way up to$1,500.$1,500. Biggest purchase you've ever spent. I need to know. Let me get a little quick intermission here. Biggest purchase you've ever had in a store. Has it been fifteen hundred dollars?

SPEAKER_00

I don't even think so. No, dude. No, I can't word.

SPEAKER_04

So then she just goes, boom, she hits a button and it's the 25% or 20%, whatever it was, 20% off button, boom. It took off several hundred dollars. Boom. Okay. All right. Okay. Then we started scanning some of these return items. Bang, the crock pot. There you go. That's a big one. Couple of spatulas. Dad dummit. You know, you're just like, ah. Anyways, I mean, I we're still hovering right around like the thousand dollar mark. I'm like, there ain't no way that little old gallon-sized Ziploc bag with all of these gift cards have a thousand, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So they start scanning. And here's the deal. We had already taken the cards out of all the like the envelopes that it came with. So I just have the card. I don't have who it's from. Oh. Which this was such a dumb game, but I just kept it in a moment of honesty and uh and confession. They'd be like, they'd scan it,$50. Oh man, there was people loved us. That's awesome. Scan it,$10. They ain't coming back to our wedding. I don't know who they was, but they didn't love us.

SPEAKER_03

It was the stupid. Oh, it was so judgmental. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_04

Scan, boom, scan, boom, scan, boom.

SPEAKER_00

And so it's just steadily, I suppose, taking the chunk off of it. Coming down.

SPEAKER_04

It keeps coming down. It keeps coming down. Lisa and I could keep looking at I'm telling you, it it could have been like five loaves and two fish. Then gift cards just kept multiplying, baby. The last card. Boop. Okay. Sir, that brings your total to five dollars and to 75 cents. I pulled out of Lincoln and three quarters, and I walked out with$1,500 worth of merchandise. That's what closed Bed Bath and Beyond in Columbus, Georgia. It was they never recovered.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my God.

SPEAKER_04

All jokes aside, that is a true story. 100% true story. We went home, and I just I remember being like blown away at what just happened. And honestly, I don't even think in my 22-year-old mind I could fully appreciate. It hasn't been until years later that I've either, you know, thought about that story again or you know, prepare to tell it in some sort of like, you know, teaching or church capacity. And man, it's just such a beautiful reminder to me of community rising and surrounding a group of people, uh, two people that needed community, you know, just and I and honestly, man, that's all. That's that's that's it.

SPEAKER_00

No, I'm feeling you. I am feeling you. It's such a practical picture of it about how and and we you and I say this all the time, you know, both in our our just in our general faith experience, but also in our recovery journeys. We just we speak all the time about how ridiculous it is to try to go about life alone, yeah, or isolated, correct? Or even just as a family or a couple to say, well, it's just us. But that that picture is, you know, you're I I I love the idea of that, you know, 800 or so people come into your wedding your wedding, but it was just you guys letting the churches, the church communities that you were a part of, yeah, letting them know and they want to come and celebrate. And so it was this huge amount of people, and then after you get back from the honeymoon, then you see this super practical application of what it looks like when a community does surround somebody.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and honestly, it wasn't the big gifts that made the difference, it was all of the little gifts. And so for me, reflecting on that story, there's so many times where I'm like, man, I just it feels like all I have to offer this situation or this group or this person or this whatever is a measly old$5 gift card, you know? Right. And it's like, man, God takes what is our filthy rags and he turns them into glorious, miraculous five loaves and two fish multiplyingly, you know, and blesses his church and blesses the community around us. And so I don't know where you're at today, listener. I don't know if there's a situation in your life where maybe, hey, you need to raise your hand and say, hey, I'm ready for some, I'm ready for some support. I'm ready to reach out to a community of people and kind of put that open invitation to my heart to some friends. Or maybe you're reading that open invitation from somebody and saying, Hey, I I don't have much, but I I can help out somewhere.

SPEAKER_00

You know? Oh, totally. And I appreciate that encouragement, especially for those of us who have at any time in our lives, maybe currently we're just saying, I really don't have much to offer. And and that's really an assumption that we make based on whatever comparative scale thing we have in our minds. But I think this story reminds us that none of that matters. That when God has placed you in a group, in a situation, in a relationship, in a group of people, or even in your own family, you are there for a purpose. And everything you bring to the table matters. I think about the biblical instructions about doing life together with with other people. And that comes to mind when I hear this story. I think about all the instructions in scripture about how we are to treat one another. In fact, that phrase one another, there are literally at least 59 times in the New Testament that there is some sort of an instruction or statement about how it should look when Christ's followers are doing life together and how they treat one another. 59 different things. And one of my personal favorites is found in Galatians chapter 6, verse 2, and it says, bear one another's burdens. And in doing so, you fulfill the law of Christ, you obey the most important instructions Jesus Himself gave us, which is to love one another, be there for each other, bear one another's burdens. And as you referred to before, I think we should all think about that thought, bear one another's burdens on both sides of the coin, where how amazing it is when there is someone there for us, but oh how amazing it can be when the time is right for the us to be there for someone else. Oh, it's it's just one of the coolest parts about following Christ.

SPEAKER_04

And and when that happens, and that kind of brings me to this last point, when that happens, like it happened in Lisa and I's life with this incredible Bed, Bath and Beyond story.

SPEAKER_00

I just I picture you guys just going through that store. Dude, when we when we rolled it.

SPEAKER_04

When we rolled both of those carts to our car, we kept looking at each other, being like, Did we did we just rob them? Like what just what just happened? But when the church, when the church executes that community piece that we're talking about, it is one of the most incredible pictures of grace. And here's what I mean by that. That day in Bed Bath and Beyond, Lisa, Lisa and I didn't earn that money. It was a it was a free gift to us. We we walked out essentially paying nothing, and it wasn't because we were somehow savvy shoppers or we had a deal lined up and had all the best coupons. But the gift we we were walking around trying to figure out what we were gonna buy, it was already paid for. We were walking around with the answer in our pocket. And I'm telling you what, we can spend our whole lives thinking that we have to pay for something, analyzing and measuring what can and what can I do. Friend, Jesus has already paid that cost. And so while we were walking around the store thinking about what we could and could not afford, Jesus has already made that. You see where I'm going with this? Oh, bro. And brother, Ephesians 2 8 is just such a beautiful reminder of this for we are saved by grace and not by works. And so when we surround the church, when we surround people effectively with the community, we get the Opportunity to showcase the very grace of God in people's lives. And that's a beautiful thing. And so when I look back on that story, yeah, I remember all the gift cards. I remember the$1,500 thing. I remember the crazy situation. But the thing that is really just coming to the surface right this second is the grace and the goodness of God. And I don't know where that situation or where that applies in your life as a listener, but just know that the grace of God is available to us. It's not just available, it's ready. And the community, the the the church around us is ready to show that.

SPEAKER_00

That is for real. That story. That in that in that final lesson that you just described. Oh man, that that hits strong. And I know it does it does for me, and I know it does for our listeners. So thank you. And thank you, Lisa, uh, for bringing that story to us. Because I think the Lord spoke to us, man.

SPEAKER_04

Amen.

SPEAKER_00

There you go. How about that?

SPEAKER_04

All right. Now do I mean kind of a quick transition here, but do you have a uh segment for us?

SPEAKER_00

I do. I do. Listen, Rhonda and I on the way on my way here, uh, we stopped and uh ran her car through the car wash not far from here. Nice. And uh it got me thinking, I have a question.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Is there anybody that still washes their car in their own driveway with the bucket and the soap and the water hose and all of that good stuff? Is there anybody who still does that? Do you still do that with it?

SPEAKER_04

It's so funny that you asked me that because I literally thought the other day, I was like, man, we we got to start thinking of some summertime things to do with the kids around here. And I was like, that'd be perfect. Just to get the kids outside, get them wet, spray them down with the hose. They'd love to just kind of memory. I think you know what? I think I will start doing that.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you're you're welcome to it. Okay, but I I don't, and I never will. And I'm telling you, bro, I just man, and you know why I hate the thought of doing that. And it's been many, many reverse L-E U.

SPEAKER_04

Can you do that? Yeah, I do that. Well, but for you.

SPEAKER_00

But I'll tell you, I'm gonna tell you why. I mean, the thought of doing that again, it just makes my skin crawl. And I'll tell you why. Okay. It's too much pressure. It's too much pressure. Pressure, dude. From Rhonda? No, from anybody. I mean, from yeah, well, look, here's the thing. From Rhonda? No, it's like, what if I miss a spot? And then I'm gonna be driving around, and there's gonna be all this, you know, it's just my my wife. Wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_04

And if I were watching, you'd rather be Herbie Mad at Tidal Wave or Goo Goo Car Wash than it recon it.

SPEAKER_00

Like those dead gum car wash guys, they don't know what they're doing, do they, baby? I don't want to be the guy like you missed a spot, so I'm driving around for a week and a half with this, you know, ridiculous looking thing on my car. I I can't deal with the pressure now. Oh, okay. Okay, it just freaks me out. I gotta tell you, my my anxiety, my neurosis, like my angst needs to be studied. Okay, you know what I'm saying? I tell you what, what if what if we do this?

SPEAKER_04

What if we do this? How about on the Saturday that I choose to do this with my kids? You bring your car over, drop it off, we'll we'll wash it for you because Rhonda can't get mad at Beckett Ship. She won't get mad at Beckend Ship. Bring over the divine Miss B. Get her involved.

SPEAKER_00

Let's go. Her bit it, let's go. Bro, memories will be made. But seriously, uh, you know, I I'm just not that I'm just not that wash your own car guy. Okay and and the people that have over the years, they'd try to teach me and they'd and they'd try to help me. And they would say they would say, it's not easy, it's not hard. Just make sure you don't miss something. I'm like, thanks a lot. But what if I now I have anxiety over this?

SPEAKER_04

I can't do it. Y'all, y'all see what I gotta deal with. This is every week. Every week. It's not easy. Holy moly, dude, that's awesome. Hey, I tell you what, what we will not be doing is a sermons on the side fundraiser of wash your crap. I ain't doing it. Bro. Not doing it. So don't say it. Don't nobody be asking for that.

SPEAKER_00

Both of us have youth ministry leadership experience. Been there, done that. Oh, the car wash fundraisers we did to get those kids to camp or or whatever. And uh and it was just like, please come pay us money and let my teenagers rearrange the dirt on their car. And then you go down and run it through an actual car wash.

SPEAKER_04

That's right. Oh, that's hilarious. You'd be paying for two car washes that day. Oh, heaven help us.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, but anyway, hey, look, this was so much fun. It's just fun. That story, Brad. Just uh thank you for taking us down memory lane back to Bed Bath and Beyond. That's awesome. Good stuff.

SPEAKER_04

I appreciate you, man. Well, hey, thank you all so much for joining us this week. We got a couple of really, really cool conversations coming up for the rest of this week, uh month and the next couple of weeks. So y'all be on the lookout for that.

SPEAKER_00

And uh join us here again next week on another episode of Sermons on the Side of the See, I picture I picture you guys walking up to that, but and I I know where it's at, you know, that building that is now something else on goods or whatever. And but it was Bed Bath and Beyond. Uh-huh. And I see you. You got your cart with the returns and the gallon ziplock with the and you're just like, how much for the sign? You know, how can I that's right.

SPEAKER_04

You remember you remember how you used to go buy a present for like and they would wrap it for you? Yeah. I wanted to buy that whole station. I was like, I ain't never wrapping a present again in my life. Give me the whole wrapping station. That's what I want. Bro, dude. I'm serious. We thought, we so thought that that little gown ziplock baggie would be like a oh, whatever we need, you know, for the for the next several months. Like, oh, we just need a new spatula. We need, you know, whatever. But when we walked in, that lady was like, yeah, the whole store, but it's just today. We looked at each other. I we must have spent five hours in that store. Oh, I believe you have to. So we were like, what do we need?

SPEAKER_01

This is our opportunity. This is our moment.

SPEAKER_00

Our entire relationship has built to this moment. Hey, you come over to our house.

SPEAKER_03

You're so excited. Every plate, every cup, every single one of them still in still in operational order.

SPEAKER_04

So oh, anyways, Bed Bath and Beyond, we miss you. Oh, don't we though?