Growing up I had a really tough life. One night I got into a pretty bad fight with my mother. In my anger I stormed out of the house in the middle of the night, raining, no jacket, no shoes, no phone. Only wearing sweat pants and a tank top in the cold rainy night. I was so upset I just kept walking.
About 3 miles away from my house I noticed a car had been following me for some time. I approached a parking lot before walking across a bridge and the car parked in front of the sidewalk and two guys got out. I was freaking out, totally terrified that I was about to be thrown in the car. But something extraordinary happened instead.
These two guys had stopped to make sure I was okay. I insisted I was fine, and told them I didn’t need anything from them. So one of them took the shoes off his feet, took the jacket off his back, and laid them on the sidewalk for me. I said, “I don’t want them, you can take them back!” He responded compassionately with “well, then I supposed someone else will have a nice new pair of shoes then” and he got back in his car and left. They drove off, and I put on the five-size too big shoes and jacket on and kept walking.
I went across the bridge and landed behind a theatre I’d spent much time at. I was sitting behind a building, under the bridge, at the edge of a cliff when a white pickup truck pulled up and parked. Again, I was terrified thinking I was about to get thrown in the truck or throw off the property…but an old man got out and asked me if I was okay.
I was crying my face off but told him I was just fine and that I was just getting some air after a fight with my mom. This man went back to his truck, came back, handed me what looked like a $20 bill, and told me with compassion I should head home where it is safer than the back of a theatre in the middle of the night.
As he left I unfolded what I thought was money and found a slip of paper that read:
“Disappointed?
Jesus won’t let you down.
Make Jesus Christ Lord of your life!
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
God provides us with things money can’t buy.
…love, joy, peace, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.
Galatians 5:22-23
Pray to receive Jesus into your heart!
Dear Jesus, I repent from my old ways (2 Peter 3:9)
Please be the Lord of my life.
I ask that you come into my heart and help me live through you.
Thank you for dying on the cross to save me!
I believe God raised you from the dead (Romans 10:9-10) and I thank you
for the hope of heaven and my salvation. Amen”
That night, those people had no idea what was going on in my world. They also had no idea that their simple and extraordinary acts of compassion and generosity would have a permanent impact on my life. They changed my perceptive, and planted an incredible seed for me.
That was a defining night in my life that ultimately played a vital role in me coming to Jesus many years later. That night I knew I was not alone; I knew God was with me. I received incredible love from these strangers in circumstances you’d never expect and they changed everything for me.
Never, ever discount the impact your simple acts of generosity and compassion may have on someone else. Never throw the crazy acts of kindness God compels you to do out the window. Trust that God knows best and don’t miss the chance to do something either simple or crazy that could change someone’s entire course for such incredible good.
