I pulled up to the stop light like I always do on my way home from church. The only difference today is that my teenage cousin, Natalie, was in the car with me. There was a worn out, homeless man looking at us through embarrassed eyes as he held a sign that simply said, “Homeless please help.”
I looked for a moment at the man then looked away. My cousin on the other hand was clearly upset by the idea of this man living on the streets. “Let’s help him,” she stated. I replied, “I can’t; I don’t have any cash on me and neither do you.” The light soon turned green and we drove away, but I could tell that she felt upset and disappointed.
We were headed to a McDonalds for lunch, just down the street. As we pulled into the McDonald’s drive through, Natalie suddenly turned to me with a huge smile on her face. “Let’s buy him something! I’m sure the homeless man could use a cold drink on a hot day,” she said.
Why hadn’t I thought of this?
Why did the excuse”I don’t have any cash on me” suddenly make me feel exempt from helping this man?
For the first time ever I saw myself through new eyes. I saw myself as JADED.
Like me, you might see homeless people all the time. You eventually get used to them begging for money and asking for help, so your attitude towards them begins to change. You begin to harden and become jaded. However, God’s command for us to care for people just like the homeless has not changed.
How did I get like this?
I’m so thankful for that moment and the large drink that Natalie and I bought at McDonalds for the homeless man. It was the wakeup call that I needed to recognize that I’m jaded and to start to change.