See the face of God

My wife told me a story yesterday - one from her mother - a person who's stories I sometimes look at with a jaundiced eye, because they are often internet 'urban myth'. Often, to my personal embarrasment, the story was profound.

The story goes:

A man was in his house, a hurricane was coming. The rescue workers knocked on his door - and said, "Let's go, it's going to flood." He replied, "I'll go when The LORD comes and saves me."

A while later, the waters were rising, a man came by in his boat, saw the man in the house and said, "Let's go, you'll be washed away." He replied, "I'll go when The LORD comes and saves me."

Several hours later, the man was on his roof, a rescue helicopter swung low, lowered a rope, and the rescue worker said "Climb up the rope, you're going to drown if you stay." The man again replied, "I'll go when The LORD comes and saves me."

Shortly after that, the man drown. When he arrived in heaven, he asked The LORD, "I had faith, I believed you would save me, but you didn't, why not?" The LORD replied, "I sent you help three times, each time you turned away, each time you refused to be saved."

When we look at heaven as a destination, when we expect the great hand of God to fix what we will not, and will not take responsibility to do, we are refusing to see God in the face of the world around us.

Yesterday I was out with a friend having coffee and a piece of pie (or cheesecake in my case). When we were paying our bill, we heard a young man asking the cashier how much a pot of coffee was. She answered that they only sell coffee by the cup (unlimited refills, but one cup per person drinking). He went back outside to his friends.

As we were walking out, the same young man stopped my friend and asked him if we had any money, he and his friends (all late teens it appeared) were hungry, and it could be surmized since they asked about the price of a pot of coffee that they wanted to share the small amout of money they had to help each other - to share thier loaves and fishes as best they could, as meager as it may have been.

My question for any of you is, what would you have said to this young man and his friends?

I have the answer my friend gave:

My friend initially replied that he didn't have any cash, which, knowing my friend, was without question true. We took a couple more steps and my friend said, "Come with me" to the young man. He went inside, taking the man with him. He told the cashier to create a bill buying each person a meal and a drink (orange juice not a 'drink' :)) which he (my friend) then paid. He shook he man's hand, and the two girl's and the other two young men's hands too. He got a hug from one of the women, and the cashier told him she'd take care of the tip. The bill for 5 meals and 5 drinks was $50.55.

When we fail to trust in the genuine decency of our fellow man, and white-wash our responsibility to help with a cynical "but they'll just use it for (drugs/liquor)" or "where are their parents" - we openly pass judgement, not just on them, but on ourselves. We fail to put faith in humanity, and therefore in God who tells us to find him in our neighbors, we fail to have faith that MOST of the time, people mean well, and really DO need some help. These five kids were hungry, whether their parents could have fed them wasn't the question. Perhaps their parents were rough, callous, we can't know, and pretending to is to pretend to know their lives - which we don't.

One of the young women said to him, "That's the nicest thing I've ever seen someone do." I'm sure it warmed his heart. He didn't know them, didn't ask their names, and didn't give his. It was an anonymous gift to a stranger. He lived a moment of opportunity for them and for him. He followed through on the only thing any of us can do, which I believe is, as Matthew 25 teaches, "We can feed those in hunger" and thus feed ourselves.

As my friend said to the cashier, as we walked back out the door, "If money isn't to be used for helping people, what good is it?" He told me he considered himself fortunate to have the chance, and went home and slept well, I imagine - knowing him. I consider myself lucky to have friends who don't judge, but instead look to find the face of God in the people around us, every day.

I was reminded of the movie, "Pay it Forward." I have faith that sometime, someday, one of those young people will have a chance to help someone, thru some random act of kindness. To show someone else the world isn't always a cold and bleak place. Maybe that help will save someone from starving, and maybe, it only save the giver. It was an excellent story to tell my children.

What would you have said? What have you said? It's a question for yourself, reply if you like.