Chili at Wendy's

Before I tell this story, I am not writing this to "toot my own horn" because I was just as convicted and glad I was able to notice this in my own life. I am writing this as more of encouragement and bring attention to this.

Today I was leaving the Oxmoor Mall and pondering what I should get for lunch. As I was trying to get back on the main road to head towards all of the fast food places, I hit one of those triangle median place in the road. As I followed the road around being the good law abiding citizen I am, I began looking for the first opportunity to turn around. I made a right and a u-turn on the next road, as I can to the stop light I noticed a homeless man standing there on the side of the road. He was holding a sign that said "Hungry, Please help, God Bless!" Completely out of the ordinary for me I sat there at that red light and contemplated picking him up and taking him to lunch with me or not. The light seemed to stay red until I finally made my decision.

I pulled up to the gentlemen holding his sign and rolled down my window and said, "Hey do you want to go to lunch with me?"

I believe he was kind of throw off by my question, as I was wondering "what the heck am I doing?" in my own mind.

He responded, "where are you going?"

And I said "where ever you want to go."

He said, "Rally's! They got really good chili."

"Get on in!" I responded.

We headed down the road and eventually pulled up to Wendy's because "they also have good chili." We sat there and talked for about 45 minutes to an hour. We talked from everything about his dad in the military to the homeless lifestyle.

After we finished eating, I asked him "Where he needed to go to?"

He said, "Just take me back to my spot."

So I prayed for him before dropping him off at his spot and we parted ways. 

As I returned back to campus I began to tell others about my interesting and unique lunch date. I began to get some responses that got my brain going. This was the first time in my life that I had done something this "extreme." But aren't we as followers of Christ called to do this daily? In Matthew 25:40 it talks about "whatever you do for me, you do for the least of these." Sure it requires us to step out of our comfort zone and even put ourselves at potential risk but it is one of our calls as followers. I am again not calling anyone out or putting myself up on a pedestal. Just sharing this eye opening experience to motivate myself and others to start doing what we are called to do! God Bless!