So there two teammates and I were sitting in a restaurant, having a drink. Talking about the day and life in general, throughout our conversations street peddlers come up intermittently come up asking if we want cigarettes, bracelets or fans. Our response always being No, no thank you.
The street is only steps away; motos, buses and cars race ahead in front of us almost seeming to be on repeat. As the conversation continues a women approaches.
The Women is small and frail, she has a baby on her hip and her arm tightly around his waist with an empty bottle in her hand. There are two more small children clamoring by her side, she shakes the bottle at us indicating her need for milk. Milk to help feed that baby on her hip. Quickly we look at one another trying to decide, we exchange a few words concerning where we could find milk? What should we do, yes we are travelers but we are not rich by any means.
These situations always cause an inner conflict, does she really need it? I am always in a full conflict when I am in these situations. The division for me comes from society, my own opinion, and what G tells me.
After a awkward pause of contemplation my teammate, Jenny pulls out a can of condensed milk, excitement jumps into them, you can see the glimmer of light come into their eyes. Thank you projects from the women’s lips, the thank you was heavily coated with thankfulness. But the moment did not stop.
The kids spot jenny”s grocery bag from the day that we were planning on splitting. Filled with toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner and 2 loaves of bread. They start pointing and excitedly talking about the bag. Lindy looks at Jenny and says ” I will pay you back just let me give them the bread.” That moment turns into us handing the entire bag over to this small family. Instantly the bread is bitten into, the yogurt is found and completely drained. Tears came to sit in my eyes watching as they drank the yogurt so fast that it spilled down their shirts and the mom trying to clean the shirts. Jenny gets up and shows her the package of baby wipes that were in the bag. Both are kneeling in the street. The language barrier does not matter, that kind of love is universal. The lady starts telling Jenny in her sing song language that she has 5 kids, and no husband. That her kids do not have pants. We hand her some money and peanut butter and they walk off.
I remember looking up at one point and realizing how many people had stopped in their tracks and were watching the scene unfold. Even the waiters at our restaurant stood there trying to understand.
We finally head back to our table and sit. Immediately we started debriefing what just happened. Talking about individuals hesitations and what JC tells us. Lindy says ” you know, I used to struggle with this too, but one day JC told me that what they do with the gift you can give is not in your control, but in mine. Offer tangible gifts to them, like food and if they deny it then that is their problem not yours. But even after she said that, I was still struggling with the idea. Growing is uncomfortable, especially when it challenges how you have thought. But God is patient and loving with us.
This morning I writing this when I flipped open my bible and read this:
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
man not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ?Here I am.?
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
11 And the Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.
Isaiah 58:7-12 ESV
He is not saying I will not struggle with this, or that discerning will ever be easy because we live in a fallen world. Instead he says we have an inheritance that needs to be shared and used to glorify him by helping our fellow brothers and sisters. They are lost sheep that he is reaching out for and trying to guide them to him and even small gestures like giving a loaf of bread or a shopping bag is a small part of his even bigger plan that we could not begin to imagine.
“Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With Your God.”
Micah 6:8
