More than just spare change… I pit stopped at a Mac’s store to stock up on my latest habit, when I was confronted by a dishevelled lady looking for some change. I began to filter through my wallet, all the while, contemplating what would be a suffice amount to give to her. After all, my pride was at stake. Many times in these predicaments—and there have been many where I am from—I get caught up in the presumption of what they are going to use MY change for. Will they use it for alcohol? Drugs? Is it really for me to know? As I fumbled for “enough” change, God interjected with a reminder that I had just received a sizable profit sharing check from my employer. I don’t know about you, but when God speaks, be it with words of encouragement or correction, my allegiance to my heavenly home rises up and I am prompted to move. I asked the lady to stay where she was and I went into the Mac’s store and withdrew $40 dollars. I then went outside and asked her to come into the store where there was an adjoining Subway, and asked her if I could by her something to eat. When she received her meal, I also handed her the money. She began to cry and explained that she wasn’t going to use it for drugs or alcohol, but that she was sick. You see she was HIV positive and she explained that there are days that she just can’t get out of bed. She explained that she has a son whom she also cares for and respectfully declined eating the subway sandwich, as she was going to be taking it back for him. Of course I did tell her there is a better way, and I am sure she has been preached at many times before when she responded with “Ya I know Jesus.” But I didn’t really have to say anything at all, as I had hoped that Jesus would have been proud of my willingness to obey. I gave her a very warm and embracing hug, and in that moment, what I felt was far more elating than any sums of money could have done. As she walked away with 2 days’ worth of what she considered her minimum daily quota, I could only thank God for this amazing opportunity to be used as one of his vessels so that a glimpse of his image could emanate through me; that though she had been the one humbly asking for a need to be met, I was the one that received the most. My only regret is that I didn’t give her more. With that said, I would like to share a quote I had found in Brennan Manning’s A Stranger to Self-Hatred: “By accepting them as equals Jesus had taken away their shame, humiliation and guilt. By showing them that they mattered to him as people, he gave them a sense of dignity and released them from their old captivity. The physical contact which he must have had with them at the table and which he obviously never dreamed of disallowing must have made them feel clean and acceptable…they would have interpreted His gesture of friendship as God’s approval on them. Their sinfulness, ignorance and uncleanness had been overlooked and were no longer being held against them. Who has given you more than just spare change? Who have you given more than just spare change to? J.