People

As I sit and think about life, there are so many things that are racing through my mind.  I think about my friends and the random people I meet each day.  I wonder why so many people are having such hard lives.

Just last night, I was talking with a young lady, and my heart broke for her.   She seems to be without hope.  Her life has been hard and many of the issues appear self-inflicted.  But still her heart is good and I can see she loves Jesus.

Then there is Terrance, the man I met at the gas station.  He was just standing at the gas pump with the hood of his truck open.  As I started to pump my gas, he asked if I could help him.  My first thought was he wants money.  Then I just prayed and asked God what should I do.  All that came to my mind was “what ever you do for the least of these”.   So I walked over and started to put some gas in his truck.  As I did, he started to tell me that he had his hood up because he had no money for gas.  He is from Gray Indiana, which was an hour away, and just needs enough gas to get home.  As he was talking my heart changed towards him.  He is a kind man who seemed to be down on his luck.  He has a great smile and appeared to be a good and decent man.  My heart went out to him.  Deep down inside I want his life to be easier, I want him to know that Jesus loves him, and because of Jesus he has value.  

As I stood there talking to him, he had tears in his eyes.  He has never filled up his truck before because he hasn’t had enough money.  His smile was more than worth filling up his truck and it warmed my heart.  He caused me to love people more, because God allowed me to see in Terrance what God sees in him.

What does God see in people?  I am starting to understand that people are hurting for many different reasons, but regardless, we are here to walk with them.  We may have to walk with them for years or only for a moment, but it is in the walking that we help them, and God changes us. Sometimes we can change the situations and sometime we can’t.  But what we can do is to stop long enough, ask God for direction, and do what he asks of us.  Then we will see how He changes us.