Friday, September 03, 2004
What to do?
Last night I was traveling to Decatur to play tennis. I was playing a classic rock station and singing along with Boston. As I got off the interstate there was a couple there; the man with a cardboard sign and the woman sitting on the ground with a duffle bag. I immediately turned off the radio and rolled down my window where I could read the sign. It said simply “traveling couple needs help”.
As I was driving I had been thinking about buying a new car. Before I left the office I was calculating how much I should be giving this week. I am paid on commission so my check is never the same, and this is the week I do the extra for the building program. While I drove around in my cute little tennis clothes, here were some people that genuinely needed help, or did they? Maybe they were just druggies who were trying to score money for a quick fix. Maybe they were running from the law and had left their kids in some rat infested motel; but, maybe not. Either way they were out here, humbling themselves in a way I pray I never have to do by asking for money from strangers. In Joe Beam’s book about spiritual warfare he talks about spirits being put in our lives to see how deal with them. He speaks of one guy who picks up a stranger while fearing for his and his family’s lives and being later convinced that this was “entertaining an angel”. I am not sure about all of that, but I do know while I was driving along in my perfectly good car thinking about a better car, these people were put in my path.
So what do you do? You can’t know these peoples hearts, motives or even their story, but here they are asking YOU for help. What should I have done? Maybe they needed a ride to a bus or train station, I didn’t offer them a ride. I did give them money. I am not telling you this because I feel 'oh so good' about myself, because I don’t. I should have been willing to do more. My heart pounded making the decision to just hand them some money. I truly want to let Christ live in me, but when faced with the true opportunities to do so I am plagued with fear. I don’t understand this. Do you ever face this dilemma?
As I was driving I had been thinking about buying a new car. Before I left the office I was calculating how much I should be giving this week. I am paid on commission so my check is never the same, and this is the week I do the extra for the building program. While I drove around in my cute little tennis clothes, here were some people that genuinely needed help, or did they? Maybe they were just druggies who were trying to score money for a quick fix. Maybe they were running from the law and had left their kids in some rat infested motel; but, maybe not. Either way they were out here, humbling themselves in a way I pray I never have to do by asking for money from strangers. In Joe Beam’s book about spiritual warfare he talks about spirits being put in our lives to see how deal with them. He speaks of one guy who picks up a stranger while fearing for his and his family’s lives and being later convinced that this was “entertaining an angel”. I am not sure about all of that, but I do know while I was driving along in my perfectly good car thinking about a better car, these people were put in my path.
So what do you do? You can’t know these peoples hearts, motives or even their story, but here they are asking YOU for help. What should I have done? Maybe they needed a ride to a bus or train station, I didn’t offer them a ride. I did give them money. I am not telling you this because I feel 'oh so good' about myself, because I don’t. I should have been willing to do more. My heart pounded making the decision to just hand them some money. I truly want to let Christ live in me, but when faced with the true opportunities to do so I am plagued with fear. I don’t understand this. Do you ever face this dilemma?
