This really has nothing to do with the new Indiana Jones movie other than the fact that I just got home from seeing the movie. But it was what happened after the movie that this is about. As India and I were leaving the movie their was a young man asking for money so that he could get in to the movie. Now, I did something that years ago that I would not have done-I actually talked to the man. Years ago, not only would I not have given him any money but I would have just walked right by with a disgusted glare and probably a few choice mumbled words as I passed by. Why the change? Hell, I don't know. Is it God working on me? Is it just getting liberal in my old age? Or is it knowing that I once had kids that age and it just tears my f*&%$@g heart out that I can't fix what is wrong in that kids life, if there is anything wrong? But one thing I do know, the movie was a great movie probably the best in the series, but all I could think about on the way home was why I didn't give the kid more money. I, at first, felt good about helping him get in the movie. He had about $7 and I gave him about $4. Then I ask him to give me all the money he had and I gave him twenty. I ought to feel good about that,huh? Not really. AS I was riding home all I could think about was that I gave him twenty but made him give me change.
There are all sorts of ways that I can justify what I did but they would all be a bunch of lies. I can afford the $20, even with gasoline at $4 a gallon. I'll blow that twenty easy over the weekend. I really should have given the kid the twenty, let him keep his change and told him that I loved him. There are times that the call of Jesus is so strong on me that it is hard to resist-like tonight. It is scary to think what might happen if I ever surrender totally to his urging. What did Jesus say? Something about giving a cup of cold water to those in need is like giving it to Jesus himself. I don't know if I fully understand what Jesus was teaching. But I do believe that he was asking that we touch those that are in need and that is really what church is about. Does helping a kid go to an Indiana Jones movie count? Maybe not. But the kid got to see a helluva movie.
pops!
1 comment:
I think that helping a kid go see the new Indy movie with a tub of buttered popcorn is EXACTLY what the kingdom of God is about.
He will forever remember that small moment of grace. And it will grow larger the more he tells his friends about it.
More good for the kingdom was done by that 20, change or no change, than a million witnesses and bible tracks.
The spontaneity of it all -- and perhaps the imperfection, has the unmistakable mark of God.
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