The American fast food chain Chick-fil-A is a favorite among Christians for the owners’ unwavering stand against Sunday opening. But it turns out this unwavering stance has some wiggle room to it, when needed.

But, as consistent as their closed-on-Sunday position has been, they’re not Pharisaical about it – they recognize there can be a need for exceptions. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, and, when the Pharisees confronted him about it, he put them in their place asking, “Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”

For Chick-fil-A, an exception occurred this past December when the Atlanta International Airport was hit with a complete blackout. This is one of the world’s busiest airports, and the blackout resulted in hundreds of cancelled flights and countless stranded passengers. While Atlanta’s municipal government was busy trying to find accommodations for these passengers they tweeted out that the passenger’s meals would be handled by someone else: “@Chick-fil-A will provide food for passengers.”

So a store that’s always closed on Sunday was happy to open their doors on this particular day of rest because thousands of people needed their help. Not only is this a wonderful observance of the 4th Commandment, it is Matthew 5:16 lived out as well.