The Best $5 Ever Spent

35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:35-40 (NIV)

I wanted to share this with you because although I have heard and read it a million times growing up, I never REALLY got it until yesterday. Here's my story...

I ran into the post office to bring my Mother's Day packages for Nana and Maw-Maw and as usual, am late in sending them. I print my postage at home since I have Cayenne Paper and usually leave packages for the mailman to pick up for me (so easy and convenient). But for some reason, I decided to bring those personally assuming that maybe they'd get on a plane earlier than whatever time my mailman gets back to the post office. Basically, now that I think about it, it was stupid to think so, but as we all know, it must have been in God's plan for me that day.

As I was hurrying in, an older woman was standing outside with a sign. Now, from previous experience of giving money to someone on the street only to watch them go by alcohol with it (after giving me a sad story about her life), I figured I would avoid eye contact and keep moving. Just like when telemarketers call. Before they even start their speech, I say, "We're not interested, thank you," and immediately hang up. If you don't, they will get you in a trap! But for this woman, with years of pain, heartache, and struggle in her life showing in every line on her face and with every strand of gray hair falling from a bun, I could not help looking her right in the eyes and seeing something more. I only got through a few words on her sign... "I have 4 children," and that was enough. But I didn't have my purse on me and had no change in my pocket. Her sign was also written in Spanish, so I wondered if she even spoke English. I told her I was sorry while I patted my pockets and she graciously said, "It's okay. Have a nice day. Thank you for stopping."

So, of course my conscious is eating me to the core in the long post office line. This is when I usually tell myself these funny things, like, "Okay, if she's still there by the time I get out and if she looks at me again, then it's a sign." But instead I decided to pray and asked for God to help this woman and to help me help her. I told Him how hesitant I am to give to people on the street because of experience. I asked Him to speak to me and let me know if I should give her the last $5 in my wallet in the trunk.

The $5 is important here... that's because Darrell and I are going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University at church. It's been good so far and we've made a budget for the first time in our 10 years of marriage. We save, clip coupons (oh yeah, saved another $75 at Harris Teeter for triple coupon week!), and communicate about our spending much more. We start with a little cash in our wallet for whatever we want and when it's gone, it's gone for the week. So, it's only Thursday and I have only $5 left. I was saving it for a drive-thru stop at Wendy's the next day for lunch as my "treat".

So, I kept praying, even out loud and didn't see her when I walked out. She had moved a little ways down and as I opened my trunk and got out my purse, I turned to see about 5 different people not even give eye contact, walk all the way around her, basically avoid her like the plague. I looked at that crisp new $5 bill and prayed more. Then, as my heart started pounding, I decided to go for it. Why on earth was this so hard for me? Was it because I would use my last $5? No, it's because I don't want the feeling of being suckered and to watch her get into a Mercedes as I pull away. It doesn't feel good to be taken advantage of and lied to. That's when I got the best message from God. He told me that even if this woman was a complete hoax, didn't have children, and would go to buy a pack of smokes with my money, I should still pray for her because her heart and soul would need it if this was the case. Suddenly, I looked at things in a whole different way.

I drove up to the curb and there she was again. I put down my window and held up that Abraham Lincoln with all of my pride. She ran over to me and before I could say anything, she reached in, looked straight into my eyes and said, "Jesus loves you. I want you to know that Jesus loves you and thank you." THAT is when I felt good about what I had done. I just looked at her and said, "I will pray for you and for your family," and touched my heart because it felt good. She thanked me 10 more times and I drove away feeling so refreshed, happy, proud, generous, and just GOOD.

I was walking on air a little later and decided to call Darrell to tell him. He told me, though, that this was most likely a hoax. He's been approached by people in parking lots and basically told me exactly what was written on my lady's sign was also written on theirs. Some of them had actually been laminated for multiple uses and he's even seen different people with the same exact wording on different days. My heart sank a little and after we hung up, I started to pray again. God told me that even if this is true and even if she is a drug dealer or is paying back a bet on the Kentucky Derby, she still needed that $5. So, if I can sleep good that night knowing I may or may not have helped a family in a time of need, then hopefully she can, too.

I run into a dilemma here now... do you give to those on the street or not? I don't run into people begging for money very much anymore since we live out in the burbs. But now that I am going to church and see people in a different light, am I being TOO naive? What do you do? Or I guess I should ask... WWJD?