My eleven year old daughter asked if I could get cash back at the grocery store.
I asked, "Why?"
"I keep seeing the same homeless man, on the road, holding up a cardboard sign, and I feel like God's compelling me to bless him."
I asked, "With my money?"
The comment passed by as I corrected that it is technically God's money.
So, when the card reader machine prompted me for cash back, I paused as I decided the amount to select. Of course, the easiest thing to do is to pick the lowest amount. Twenty dollars is still a hefty gift to give someone begging on the street corners, right?
I asked her how much she wanted. She asked for $50.00. That was not a choice. It was either $20, $40, $60, etc. I pulled out $60.00.
After we loaded our groceries and drove out of the parking lot, we merged into the multiple lanes of fast moving traffic. The girls spotted him in the middle median where I could not pull over to hand him the money.
It was after dinner time, I was tired from shopping, and it was just easier to say, "Oh well, we tried" and continue going with the flow of traffic on our way home.
My daughters started to implore me to turn around and try again. I was completely against this inconvenient attempt to bless another homeless man on the street begging for help. When I looked at the amount of traffic I would have to sit through, after I turned around, I exaggerated and said something like, "I'll have to sit through five hours of traffic."
The girls continued that I needed to turn around anyway.
So, I did a quick U-turn in a gas parking lot and got in line to go back the opposite direction.
The light turned green and we drove back to where he was standing. However, this time, I was in fast moving traffic going past him again. I could not just stop the car in the middle of the road. I had to drive past the next turn to do ANOTHER U-turn. But, at the girl's excitement and perseverance, I humored them.
When I got back in the four lanes of traffic (heading back towards our house), I decided to try to squeeze into the left lane and just put my hazards on and make everyone pause. The man was walking between the two left lanes of cars with his dog accepting another donation, when I realized there was no way I could get in the far left lane before the light turned green again.
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| [Source: policestateusa.com photo off Google Images] |
So, I just turned on my hazards, honked my horn to get his attention, and held the money out the window. The light turned green and I stayed put in the second to left hand lane. People started to honk. The man hustled to our car and brushed by quickly, grabbing the rolled up 20's out of my hand with a quick "Thank you" and not even a hint of eye contact.
We drove on our way.
I'll admit, I was feeling a bit offended that he did not even make eye contact with us. I just gave him $60.00! But, I quickly reasoned the pressure he was under with him and his dog in the middle of the lane while cars were obviously impatiently wanting him out of the way. Remembering that we don't give to get an eye contact "Thank you", but we give in response to our love and obedience to our Lord, my emotions settled down.
The thought crossed my mind that the small amount of money given may be only enough to buy him one hotel room for one night (if he could save it for the cold weather coming in the next few months). Thankful I don't have to worry about basic needs of food and shelter for our own family.
The thought crossed my mind that the small amount of money given may be only enough to buy him one hotel room for one night (if he could save it for the cold weather coming in the next few months). Thankful I don't have to worry about basic needs of food and shelter for our own family.
I asked the girls, "Was it worth it?"
They replied, "Absolutely. It's always good to obey God, even when you have to go through extra traffic to do so."
"By the way, Mom, it took an extra five minutes... not five hours."
