I recently started a part-time job doing food delivery for Panera Bread. Before starting this job, I took a hiatus from work while I transitioned my life into a new city at a new school with new friends and new efforts in my creative pursuits. After school let out, I felt it was time to start looking around at my options, thinking that surely I will get my first or second pick. I mean, surely.

A month passed and both of the jobs I had wanted to do so badly never returned a phone call so I began to search for jobs on a random website hoping for something to do until the other jobs panned out (cause surely they will, right?) Panera Bread delivery driver popped up repeatedly on the feed and I thought that I might as well look into it. I applied for the position and within a few hours I had already received an email about coming in for an interview. Already I was feeling resistance flood my mind, “Delivery driver? Are you kidding?” I consoled myself saying, “It’s only for a short while. You got it.”

I went to the interview/orientation located in the basement of a Holiday Inn & Suites and sat next to some kind people, mostly college students like I am, waiting to begin our Panera career. Following the interview and orientation, we were assigned our locations and schedules for the following week.

I walked in to my first day on the job and stepped behind the counter for a change. I was greeted kindly by the associates and made my way to the back to meet the general manager and to complete an unreal amount of ELearning courses designed to give you as much knowledge as possible with as little enthusiasm as possible. (Just kidding. They actually do a great job.) After I spoke with the general manager, I was assigned my bright neon orange jersey, specifically designed to make delivery drivers stand out.

As I went to the men’s room to put it on, I remember stalling in the mirror for a few extra moments to think about where I was and why I was dressed as an orange highlighter. I texted my family a selfie and some lyrics to an old-school Switchfoot song saying, “I got the company car.”

This was it. I had become “one with the ones that I never believed in.” As I exited the men’s room in full uniform, I began making the rounds and learning my duties. The day went on and I got to know the people I was working with.

I was blown away. The kindness, the diversity, the care, the work ethic, and the joy of the employees sent me in a spin. I couldn’t believe it. What for me was a short-term, part-time job was for them the full-time, foreseeable future. And while my attitude was one of self-entitlement and separation, theirs was one of joy in hard work and little. I saw the temperament of Jesus.

Jesus was one who entered in to the long-term, walking with the sinners and the forgotten and the normal people and bringing them along in a journey that would last beyond a lifetime. A journey that would involve work that no one saw. A journey that would not cash out with a fat paycheck every month. A journey with long days of going the extra mile with no immediate reward and no way to measure your progress.

I realized that when I came to Panera, I had a lot more to learn from these people than they do from me. And though my time there still may be short, each day is an opportunity for me to see those who work hard for little in return. I hope that I can continue learning to become one of those who I never gave credit to. This world is one filled with miracles and I saw one in the kitchen working at Panera Bread.