Friday, May 23, 2008

Indiana Jones and the Kid

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!