what we should have done

walking with some friends in the loop tonight, we encountered, were approached by, a man who was asking for money. he gave the usual reasons for needing it, and i was probably the most hard-hearted of our group, walking away while he was still speaking. i walked away because my children needed me to come home, because i wasn't going to give him money, because i'm still a little perturbed at the last begger who gave me a line but was yanking my chain and she knew it and i knew it (someone with whom we have history), because we have these encounters a little more often than some and because i didn't believe his story. to be honest, as a friend of mine said once, i'd just rather have you ask me for money so you can go get a tall-boy and go drink it.
but we gave, (not me - we), a buck here, two there, and walked away. the kids were waiting, it was cold, blah, blah, blah.
here's what we should have done. we should have prayed with Him. if we were going to give him money, especially when he played the Christian card, we should have stopped right there and taken the time to pray about all those things he talked about when he was making his case for our cash.
people expressing a need are often open to prayer. and people using Jesus' Name to beg are absolutely obligated to let us pray for them, or else they ought not use His Name. and if there's anything we could have done for that guy that could have really made a difference, it's calling on that Name.
that's what we should have done. i've seen it before. you're going through the motions of 'helping' someone and you say, can i pray for you, and you do, and as you open the door to Heaven, their heart opens, not to you, but to Him, and then they're weeping. our prayers are not to open sky, but to the One Who created them, numbered their hairs, orders their destiny.
Jesus, i pray that You'd reach that guy tonight. keep him warm, help him spend those dollars wisely, give him dreams and visions of You. show Him Your beauty and help him find a place to be, a task to do, and a way to live that honors You. amen.
and help us, next time, to pursue the eternal value in our encounters with the ones You love.