Always Be Prepared

Last week my family and I went into David for our weekly rounds of grocery shopping and other errands (like paying rent, electric, etc...) which is always a fairly hectic and tiring time.  In order to make things go faster we usually split up.  She does the grocery shopping while I am doing everything else.  

On this particular day I had to teach in our Tuesday night Bible study and had been in a long meeting before going into town, so time was even more crunched.  

I went to the bank first, which had a horrible line and took a lot longer than I expected to pay the rent. After that I went to a local hardware store to get some supplies for our upcoming trip into the mountains.  In that store both registers were not working properly and I ended up having to wait to the point that Karmy was starting to send me messages asking when I would come get her because she was finished with with the grocery shopping.   I couldn't go just yet though, I had one more stop at a different grocery store because it carries some things the other one doesn't.  

So I finished getting everything I needed, and rushed through that last line and out to the truck.  I had just opened the door and tossed the stuff in the back when I heard, "Excuse me sir, sir."  I turned around to see a bony old woman with a little boy about the age as my oldest son.  She said, "Please help us, I need some food for the child."  My natural instinct was to think, "I don't have time, Karmy is waiting for me and I have another meeting to get to!"  But Matthew 5:42 always goes through my head in response to my excuses, "Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away."

The fact is, we could all argue that the woman may have been using that child to get money for her own drug problem, which is certainly possible, but all I know is what the Scripture says.  So I will give until I know for sure it is being used for sinful purposes or God tells me not to (which He sometimes does).  I can't leave that child to starve.

I told her to stay put, grabbed a cart and went back inside.  I filled the cart up with as much food as I could afford and went back outside and told the lady.  "You know, I'm a gringo, so people ask me for money almost every time I come into the city, and a lot of times God tells me not to give them anything.  But this time He told me to help you, so take this food and know that God loves you and He is going to take care of you."  She said "Thank you, please remember to pray for us."  

I have been praying for them since that happened, and I want to ask that you reading this would do the same.  We need to always be ready for what God may bring our way, even in the most hectic of times. You never know when it is going to be an angel in disguise sent to test you to check your availability to the Kingdom.  Yes, some of our groceries melted, but that is such a tiny price to pay compared to being able to bless that woman and child, and tell them that Jesus loves them.