One day while pumping gas, a man approached me and asked if I could help him. He said his father-in-law was sick and he needed gas money to take his wife to visit (200 miles away).
After I finished at the pump, I took $10 from my purse. When I handed it to him, the man had tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I can't lie to you," he said. "I lost my job and we were just evicted from our apartment. We have no where to go." He motioned to a car where his wife sat.
Compassion rose up inside me. I talked to him a few minutes about job possibilities and a church that might help. He thanked me and walked away.
As I left the parking lot a thought hit me. "You're a sucker...you've been had. That guy probably headed to the nearest liquor store."
Then I thought about my faith and my desire to help hurting people. I am so blessed and $10 certainly wasn't a great sacrifice.
This same scenario has happened to my husband and me numerous times over the years. Sometimes we joke that we must have an X on our foreheads that lead needy people to us! :) We don't ever give large sums of money ($20 was probably the most).
We feel like we give the money with the right intentions. If the recipients spend the money foolishly, then they are accountable to God for their actions.
Have you ever experienced this? And if so, how did you handle it?
0 comments:
Post a Comment