Unexpected Encounter

Every now and then I find myself thinking about Jesus' call to care for the poor. My thoughts are often accompanied by a sense of guilt over what I have or a sense of helplessness since the issue of poverty is so overwhelming. Along with the helplessness I feel, I find myself thinking, "I know there are poor people in our community, but where?" I mean there are a handful of wonderful programs set up in our town to assist people, but any time I've contributed, my action has felt very far removed from the very real lives of people who may be benefiting. Some times I also get caught up in the many philosophical questions regarding poverty...What do people REALLY need...How can we help break the cycle of poverty in people's lives...How do we know people aren't just taking advantage of the system...What if I give money and it isn't used well...and on and on my questions can go. However, those questions usually just leave me paralyzed and out of touch with God's heart of compassion and mercy.

Well, this afternoon, Hannah and I were driving home from visiting T at his office when we came to a stop sign accompanied by a man who appeared poor. I glance at him just long enough to read the sign he held..."Any help appreciated". I couldn't bring myself to look at his face. I mean, I had to watch for oncoming traffic, right? So, we drove on by and went to gas up the van. The whole time at the gas station, I kept thinking about that man, and how just yesterday I had talked with a friend about the lack of visibly poor people in our town. I kept thinking about how cowardly I had been to not even look at his face. I thought about how humble and sincere his handwritten sign was. I thought about what I might be able to offer him. I thought about many of the paralyzing questions stated above. I thought about whether I would be putting us in harm's way by stopping to chat with the man. I thought about how I'd feel if I just drove on home and acted like I'd never seen him standing there. And then I decided I had to trust God enough to drive past the man again and at least look at his face...AT LEAST acknowledge his humanity. As I left the gas station, I began to pray that God would lead my heart in how to respond to him.

I pulled up to the corner again (which happened to be in a VERY public location) to see the man in conversation with a young couple. His sign was relaxed to his side and they seemed to be very engaged in their chat. I noticed he had a faithful dog by his side, and he seemed like a very gentle and sincere man. I pulled into a parking lot and observed for a minute. The long story short is that within a minute or two he ended up getting in a car with the couple who must have offered him some kind of tangible assistance. So, I pulled away from the parking lot and headed for home.

While I didn't personally interact with the poor man today, I keep thinking about him. And I keep thinking that as far as God is concerned with me, none of those paralyzing questions above REALLY matter. The question I should be most concerned about is, "what is the attitude of my own heart?" The poor are around us and always will be. I want to learn to be aware, compassionate, and generous towards them. And in the lifelong journey to that end, I think I may need to borrow the poor man's sincere plea..."Any help appreciated".