The other day, myself and a couple of my teammates planned to take a bus through Penang to check out some of the sites that they have to offer. The bus comes about every five minutes right outside of the door where we stay, so we never wait long and nothing usually happens between the time that we put on our shoes until the time that we step onto the bus. However, this particular day was a bit different.
This Saturday morning we were waiting outside at the bus stop for the bus to come. A couple of us were thirsty so we got a couple ringgit (Malaysian currency) out of our wallets and were getting ready to head to the local convenient store to get something to drink. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a homeless man asking for money. This man looked the equivalent of a skeleton that had missed more than a few meals. As we were in the store I got some change to give to the man, and when we came back I handed him a few ringgit (about $1 USD) so that I could talk to him and he could get a meal and the Indian diner across the street. My plan was to give this man money for food so that I could share the gospel with him, just to show him that he is loved and he has hope. What I soon found was that my plan was not the same as the plan that the Lord had for us on this beautiful Saturday.
After handing the man the money, I listened to him tell me his name, (I could not pronounce it) where he was from, what he was doing that day, and what he was going to purchase with the money, (naan, which is wonderful Indian tortilla that we eat pretty much every day) I was asking the Lord for the right words to say to this man, but I heard no response…until the man began to speak again…
He told me about the church that he goes to and invited me and my teammates to come to the service the following day. When I told him that some others were already expecting us at another church in town, he asked if he could pray for me…HUH?! I was supposed to pray for this guy! I was supposed to speak life into this man! I was supposed to share the gospel with him! I was supposed to tell HIM about the love of Jesus and the hope of today, tomorrow, and eternity. Right……?
Wrong. This man prayed for me, was more thankful for the ONE DOLLAR that I gave him than I think I’ve been for anything I’ve ever been blessed with in my life. He asked for the Lord to bless me. He called me a mighty man of God. He thanked the Lord for sending me to help him out, said “Amen”, patted me on the back, and was gone.
My mind has been perpetually blown by how incredible God is. Here I am, trying to be obedient to Him, by seeking this man out so that I can deliver good news to him…and instead he delivers it to me! This homeless man was a walking, living, breathing example of the absolute fact that all we need is JESUS. He was an incredible and an unable to ignore reminder of what it means to trust the Lord, and to be thankful for the things that He gives us. ALWAYS. In every single thing that we do, every single thing that we have, God has blessed us with them, and they can be taken away in a moment. Even if everything seems to be missing from our lives, if all we have is God, we have all we need.
