Student spends spring break at Wal-Mart
DAVID PITT
Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa - For spring break, some college students set out for sun-drenched beaches or cheap European cities. Skyler Bartels headed for the local Wal-Mart.
Bartels, 20, an aspiring writer and Drake University sophomore, thought he'd spend a week in a Wal-Mart as a test of endurance, using it as the premise for a magazine article. His college adviser liked the idea.
"I just intuitively thought, `This is brilliant!'" said Carol Spaulding-Kruse, an associate professor of English. "I wasn't quite sure why, but it just sounded like a really good idea."
For 41 hours, Bartels wandered the aisles of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Windsor Heights that's open 24 hours a day. He checked out shoppers, read magazines, watched movies on the DVD display and played video games.
He bought meals at the in-store Subway sandwich shop, but was able to catch only brief naps in a restroom stall or on lawn chairs in the garden department.
Other shoppers and employees didn't pay much attention until the end of his stay, he said, when it appeared some store greeters began to take notice - pointing at him and whispering.
A shift manager approached him and asked him if he was finding everything he needed.
"He said, `Didn't I see you over by the magazines, like, five hours ago?' I told him, `Maybe,'" Bartels said.
Tiring to the point of hallucinating, Bartels said he decided to go home before he was thrown out.
He considered the project a failure.
Then, The Des Moines Register, which had been contacted by Spaulding-Kruse, called to ask him about the experience. Once the story ran, TV networks began calling.
He also talked with a book agent, has been contacted by New Line Cinema about a movie concept and did a radio interview with National Public Radio.
Bartels told The Associated Press he has decided the stunt wasn't such a failure after all.
"I'm incredibly happy with the press coverage," he said. "It would be kind of silly not to accept it with open arms."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokesman Kevin Thornton said Bartels neither violated store policy nor broke the law.
photo courtesy images.google.com & story courtesy AP, 03/28/06
4We proudly tell God's other churches about your endurance and faithfulness in all the persecutions and hardships you are suffering. 5But God will use this persecution to show his justice. For he will make you worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering,
WHAT DOES PAUL TEACH US ABOUT ENDURANCE IN TODAY'S SCRIPTURE?
Tyndale's LIFE APPLICATION STUDY BIBLE notes explain it this way:
1:5 As we live for Christ, we will experience troubles because we are trying to be God's people in a perverse world. Some people say that troubles are the result of sin or lack of faith, but Paul teaches that they may be a part of God's plan for believers....Your troubles may be an indication that you are taking a stand for Christ. When you do so, you are experiencing the privilege of showing that you are worthy of God's Kingdom.
When I read the news story about the student testing his endurance by seeing how long he could hang out at Wal-Mart, I just shook my head and laughed. When I read that he is being contacted for interviews and a possible book or movie, I felt frustrated at first.
Then I remembered that our world has a secular perspective, which is the polar opposite of God's heart. Our culture views a 2-day life at a discount store as newsworthy because it's a "test of endurance". Attention comes quickly.
God's "test of endurance" is all about trusting Him and His purposes for us while suffering during the building of His Kingdom. The Father counts us worthy through faithfulness. Attention comes much later. In eternity. For the glory of Jesus Christ!
We can hang out in Heaven forever. Enduring the now will be worth it then.
- Pray regularly for Jesus to provide the strength you need for endurance.
- Read all of 2nd Thessalonians 1 to learn more about responding to the tough times in life with endurance.
- In your journal, keep a written record of how Jesus teaches you endurance during life's challenges.
- The next time you're just hanging out in a discount store, let it remind you of the lesson learned in today's Devo. Forty-one hours won't be necessary!
Daily Devos is published Monday through Friday. Archives can be found at YFC.ORG. Its purpose is to help you apply truths from God's Word every day.
Our writer, Byron Emmert, has been involved with Youth For Christ for 30 years. He's served as Campus Life Staff, as a writer, and in leadership for the DCLA Conferences. Byron is married to Linda and their family includes two married sons and daughters-in-law, and a daughter in college. He loves sports, deep dish pizza, and spending time with his family.