Lisa
Tonight I met Lisa. She approached me as I was sitting (and reading lotus notes) on a bench along the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia. "Hello, I don't mean to bother you, but I'm pregnant and homeless, and hungry, and well, could you help me with some money to get something to eat? I like Chinese."
I gave her a couple of dollars and asked where she was going to spend the night. I was a little uncomfortable asking a twenty-something woman such a question, but believed it was important. She took it as an opportunity to upgrade her request for funds. She had no carrying bags and wasn't disheveled in appearance which caused me to question the veracity of her story.
I told her that God loved her to which she replied she was grateful, but needed to move on to ask others for more help.
This is a tragedy. God is willing to provide for all her constructive needs and she wants to go to someone who can only support what are most likely negative needs.
I failed in my meager attempt to draw her to Christ and commit her to His care even as I write this message. Lord, help her just now...and help me to be better at this.
Matthew 25:40 (MsgB)
Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me-you did it to me.'
I gave her a couple of dollars and asked where she was going to spend the night. I was a little uncomfortable asking a twenty-something woman such a question, but believed it was important. She took it as an opportunity to upgrade her request for funds. She had no carrying bags and wasn't disheveled in appearance which caused me to question the veracity of her story.
I told her that God loved her to which she replied she was grateful, but needed to move on to ask others for more help.
This is a tragedy. God is willing to provide for all her constructive needs and she wants to go to someone who can only support what are most likely negative needs.
I failed in my meager attempt to draw her to Christ and commit her to His care even as I write this message. Lord, help her just now...and help me to be better at this.
Matthew 25:40 (MsgB)
Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me-you did it to me.'
posted by Jim Knaggs | 8:56 PM
3 Comments:
How wonderful you are! Although it may seem you didn't make a connection, I'm sure that Lisa, at one point, thought of what you said and wondered.
There are many that wonder and some that know ... how wonderful it is to know!
Thanks for sharing your experiences....and how you deal with them and react to them. It helps me deal with some of the same feelings when faced with similar circumstances. Sometimes we feel so helpless...should we? Thanks, Jim...I'm addicted to this blog!
Both of these are prize-winning comments...Let us together make our attempts to reach out in God's name and see what He does with it...by the way, the prize is being published on the blog. Thanks.
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