MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) – A local Chick-fil-A manager’s act of kindness has gone viral.
Joey Mustain and his daughter Stella are regulars at the Old Fort Parkway location in Murfreesboro, but on Monday, he said the two had a front row seat to a scene he described as beautiful.
Justin Burkeen took a break from pan-handling and came into the fast food chain looking for something to eat.
“I overheard him ask for extras, scraps, and the manager said, ‘I’m not going to give you any extra food or scraps. I’m going to give you a full warm meal,’” Mustain recalled.
“He said, ‘All I want you to do is pray with me,’” he added.
The manager, Joshua Stout, bought Burkeen a meal with his own money and then the two bowed their heads.
“I asked him if I could pray for him and he said I could, so I just put my arm around him and bowed my head and just said a quick prayer for him,” Stout told News 2.
Mustain was so moved by the moment he wanted to capture it.
“It was just a beautiful scene. I was searching for my phone and I was praying, ‘God, let this prayer last long enough for me to get a picture.’”
Mustain snapped a picture and posted it to Facebook, and, in no time, the post was shared across the world.
“This is people sincerely touched by humanity,” Mustain told News 2.
“I was thankful to see so many people cared and so many people wanted to share it. We are a people business. We serve food, but we also serve kindness and compassion,” Stout told News 2.
Burkeen, who is a self-described nomad that lives in a school bus, told News 2 the gesture restored his faith in humanity.
“It’s amazing how many times this story happens a day and how many people ignore it. It’s really restored my faith and belief that people actually care out there anymore,” Burkeen explained.
Mustain said he knew from the second he captured it that the moment was special. Little Stella even bowed in prayer after he took the picture.
“There are really good people out there and I’m glad to be there to see it, I’m glad she was there to see it,” he added.
He hopes it will forever be a life lesson for his daughter.
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