We stopped at a filling station while on vacation last week, and I was approached by an old man who had the softest hands. He said his name was Ernie, and he was hungry. He wanted some money to buy food. I told Ernie that I was not comfortable giving him money, because I felt that he would go buy more booze with it. He had already had more to drink than he needed.
This is a shortened version of our conversation:
Ernie confessed, with tears in his eyes, that he had been a US Marine and had been young and strong, but he had drunk everything away.
I told him that he needed Living Water instead of Fire Water, and being a Native American, he thought that was pretty funny. I asked him if he knew Jesus, and he exclaimed, “Oh! I love God! I love God!”
I reemphasized, “Not just God, do you love Jesus?” I was concerned about a confusion with Native American gods and the one true God. Then Ernie asked me if I had a Bible. We all had our bibles in the car, and we even had a new bible with us for the purpose of giving away to someone who needed it. I thought about this, but my response was wrong. I did not know where the bible was packed, and I did not want to unpack our car in the parking lot of a filling station looking for it. So, I said, “I have one, but not one I can get to easily.”
We talked while I was filling the vehicle, and I offered to buy him a sandwich and chips in the convenience store. Ernie agreed with that idea, but when I walked into the store with him, the store manager told me that Ernie could not be in his store because of a past history of panhandling. I asked Ernie to wait outside while I bought some food, but the man wouldn’t even allow me to buy food for Ernie. Instead, he called the police to report Ernie. Ernie was angry and started to threaten the manager, so I shepherded him out the door.
Ernie asked me, “Do you know what we were taught to do in the Marines?”
I said, “To do good things?”
Ernie laughed and said, “Good try. No, we were taught to kill.” Then his eyes flooded with tears, and he said, “I killed a lot of people over there in Vietnam.”
The only thought I had, I shared with Ernie. I said, “Jesus died so you can be forgiven for that.”
Ernie took my hand and kissed it and thanked me profusely for saying that.
I ended up giving Ernie five dollars to take across the street to a fast food taco restaurant. The last time I saw Ernie was as he walked up the drive way of the restaurant with the 5 dollar bill held in his hand.
When I got back into the car, the new bible was sitting in my seat. Chelsea had found it for me so I could give it to Ernie. It was then that I remembered that we had just purchased our own supper at Wendy’s , and my sandwich, fries, and drink were sitting in the car untouched. I could have easily given Ernie food for his body AND food for his soul.
My efforts to show God’s love to Ernie were terribly inadequate, and I pray that God will send someone who can help Ernie better than I did.
For myself, I pray that God will give me the ability to be a better helper the next time he sends me a needy soul.
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. ”
Matthew 25:41 - 46 (NIV)
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