It’s my first blog post! I wrote it all in my head in bed this morning, so let’s see if I can recreate it in writing. I’ve actually never told anybody this story before.
Last December, I was leaving the rock climbing gym downtown late in the evening. It was nothing out of the ordinary. Michigan winters are fierce, so there’s usually nobody on the streets. However, as I was walking to my car, I saw a woman sitting on a bench. She started asking me for money. Normally, I choose not to give in these situations. Something stopped me that day. Perhaps it was the fact that I was feeling grateful about how much God has provided in my life, and I felt like extending that provision. So I listened to her story.
She told me how she was from Gary, Indiana and came to town to attend a funeral. She didn’t have enough money for a place to stay that night and asked for a few dollars. I dug into my wallet and handed her a $20 bill. At that moment, she pretty much broke into tears. And she said to me something along the lines of, “God bless you. You are an angel sent from heaven!” She then told me that she sung in a gospel choir at her church; she asked for my name and if she could sing to me.
And there I was, in the middle of a deserted street on a cold, winter evening, listening to this woman with a beautiful voice sing a song for me. It may have looked ridiculously crazy from an outsider’s perspective, but I was completely touched. That moment was so intimate, and I totally felt the Holy Spirit moving then and there. For this woman to immediately recognize what I had given her was really from God and not from me was so encouraging. And God decided to give us both a gift that evening–a glimpse of Him through strangers passing in the night.
As I begin to think about all the people I will encounter, I’m really excited to see and hear all of the crazy awesome moments He will bring to us–no matter how big or small 🙂
