As I was leaving a store I noticed a couple right outside the door. I had actually noticed them while walking around in the store because they weren't moving on. I considered cutting across to go out the other doors and avoid any potential contact with them. 'No. I can handle it.' Sure enough as soon as I got outside...
"Ma'am. Ma'am, can I ask you a question?"
"What's that?"
"My husband and I... come over here (to her husband)... my husband and I are homeless. And we just want to... come over here (again to her husband who hadn't moved from 20 ft away)... we want to go eat at Golden Corral." (Awkward pause.)
"So what would be your question?"
"We have $6." She looked again at her husband. "Show her the money."
He did come towards us at that point and she reached out to touch my arm. As I took a step backward, he began digging through his pockets and pulling stuff out. I think he found a dollar but the rest of the money was apparently lost. I noticed the man had no teeth. He had to hold on to the waist of his pants as he walked or they would have fallen off of him. The woman was all skin and bones.
"I'm sorry. I don't carry cash and I can't give you anything."
The woman turned towards me again. Her eyes were very sad. "No I don't want any money. We just want to go to Golden Corral."
"Why do you want to go to Golden Corral?" At this point I began looking around to see what places were close by where they could eat.
"I want to get the most for our money." Of course the thought that crossed my mind was, 'but you don't have any money!'
"I can't give you any money but if you will meet me over there at Braum's I will buy you a sandwich."
The woman's eyes got really big. "Really?! Did you hear that? Really?!"
"You meet me over there and I will buy you a sandwich." Then it happened; she hugged me. As it had several times during this conversation, the thought crossed my mind not to trust them. 'What if they try to attack me.' Now let me point out that this threat of harm was completely irrational. I am trained to sense danger and neither of these people were physically capable of hurting me. They were moving so slow it appeared they were in pain. The man couldn't take normal steps.
"Is it okay if we wait for you outside?"
"Why do you want to wait outside?"
"Because I just know they'll say something to us if we go in there."
Of course there are multiple possibilities for why they couldn't go in there but it wasn't important. "Okay."
The woman turned to the man and began saying "Hurry up! She's going to buy us a sandwich! We have to hurry!" I heard her repeat that probably three times.
I bought each of them a burger and two apples. In the bag I also included a card with my church's information. When I stepped back outside I didn't see them at first and began to wonder if they disappeared. And if they disappeared... had I just entertained angels? As I began walking back to my car, I spotted them sitting on a curb behind the restaurant. He jumped up and met me halfway to get the food. As he said thank you, I said "God bless you" and walked away so they could eat.
Let brotherly love continue.
Don't neglect to show hospitality,
For by doing this
Some have welcomed angels
Without knowing it.
Hebrews 13:1-2
My constant prayer is that God uses me to work His miracles in other people's lives. If at all possible, please use me. I am honored that God put me in that store, on that day, at that time so that these two people could eat. That's MY blessing for the week. However, when I begin to think about how fragile both these individuals looked, it saddens me. Yes I bought them a burger. But should I have done something else? Maybe I missed something? I am humbled by the thankfulness of these two people and all I did was buy them a burger. There's also a part of me that feels guilty that I thought about going out the other door, that I thought about hurrying to my car, that I wanted to tell her "no you can't ask me a question", that I doubted anything she said was true, that I didn't want her to touch me or hug me, that I kept looking for the catch or how I was going to be taken advantage of, that I didn't sit down and talk with them a little longer...
Will God give me a second chance tomorrow to show His love to someone?
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