Life is full of moments, opportunities, and choices. Some believe every act is preordained by some form of high power. Some believe moments are a result of karma, others believe opportunities are coincidence.
As I've mentioned in other posts I believe in God, I believe he is as involved in my life as I am, if not more. I truly do think he presents us with opportunities and the freedom to choose how to act out that opportunity.
Today I was presented with a couple moments that gave me a couple choices. The first went something a little like this:
I was headed to the store to pick up a few things I pulled into the parking lot and parked my car. As I was walking into the store I saw a man in the hood of his truck. And I literally do mean IN the hood of the truck. It was clear his truck was broken down and he had climbed onto the hood of his truck and was leaned into some part of the motor attempted to fix the issue. I felt compelled to help him. Now you have to understand, I know NOTHING and I really do mean NOTHING about motors or cars or anything about fixing cars. So it seemed to me a ridiculous thought to offer my assistance so I continued on into the store and pushed the thought out of my head, as a small moment of compassion. I went about picking up what I needed in the store and finished my task. After paying for my items I headed back to my car. Well, as I left the building I saw a tow truck attaching the broken truck to itself. Something in me felt so sad. I myself have had to call and pay for my own car to be towed and I know it is no fun task. As I walked by I saw the man and whom I assume is his wife on either side of the tow truck. The wife did some sort of hand gesture to her husband and the man held up his fingers to give what I can only assume was the cost to tow the truck, seventy dollars. Somewhere deep inside me said pay for their truck to be towed. But I countered the thought by saying, I am a college student I don't have extra money to pay for their car to be towed. But I felt even stronger that I should pay for their truck to be towed. By this time I was at my car and getting into it, and I reasoned with myself I had no cash I literally can't pay for their truck to be towed. So I got in my car and started to drive away. My heart was racing and I felt, for lack of any other word, convicted. I knew I should pay for their truck, I knew that God was telling me to pay for it. But I never turned around, I never went back and payed for it. I denied myself the opportunity to demonstrate the love of God to another.
The second opportunity happened only minutes later, I had to go to another store, I had grabbed the items I needed from that store and was waiting in line to pay for them. A young girl two people ahead of me was paying for her items and her card was declined. Something in me said pay for it. Again I was like, no this is ridiculous. The girl attempted to use her card again. It was declined again. Again I felt I should pay for her items. But for whatever reason I was afraid to say something. The girl's bank was actually attached to the store so she was going to check why her card wasn't working. The lady in front of me bought her items and then it was my turn. I had a decision to make. The young girl had left her items there so she could come back and pay for it after. So I could easily pay for her items, the cashier rang my items through and I swiped my debit card and completed paying for my items. My heart was pounding, for some reason I couldn't shake it I HAD to pay for this girls purchase. So I spoke out to the cashier, "actually" I said. "I'd like to pay for the girls items." The cashier looked a little surprised and suggested I go make sure the girl was coming back so I don't pay for something that will never get picked up. So I quickly went and checked the bank, and there sitting with the bank employee was the young girl. I let her know I was going to pay for her purchase and that I'd be right back with it if she just waited there. I went back to the cashier and said I was going to pay for the stuff. The cashier was pleasantly surprised and told me I was going to have good luck come to me. I smiled gave a little laugh and said I didn't really care if anything good came from it or not I just wanted to help. I paid for the items and brought the purchase to the young girl. The girl attempted to thank me more than I deserved and I simply wished her a good afternoon and walked out to my car and continued on with my day.
So why share this story? Is it to make myself look good? So I can feel good about myself?
Not at all.
To be honest, I'm more ashamed of the first story than I am pleased with the second. I was given one opportunity to demonstrate how there is a God who cares about his people so much that he would send someone to help in their time of need, and I didn't take it. Sure maybe God gave me the second opportunity to see if I was really that selfish to turn down two opportunities but I missed the first one.
We only get one life, and sometimes we only get one opportunity to change and impact someone's life, it is so important that we do no waste those moments or walk away from them. But instead we must walk courageously into every situation trusting that God has a plan and he will take care of us so long as we are following his lead. That doesn't mean life is going to be easy, in fact Jesus told us the opposite. In John 16:33 it says "In this world you will have troubles" you WILL, not you might, not only the bad people have troubles, but everyone WILL have troubles. But we can relax about it and trust God because he has already overcome the world and in the end he wins so we just need to trust him and follow his lead every time he creates an opportunity.
Sometimes the gesture may seem really small and insignificant like paying for that girls purchase. Sometimes it might be more significant, but the truth is you never know what the people you encounter are going through and how your one small gesture could impact them.
Trust God in every moment,
Love people no matter what and help me change the world. Everywhere you go help
people to see hope, feel joy and know love.
people to see hope, feel joy and know love.
Infinite x's and o's
-A
-A
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