Meeting Jesus in the parking lot... Stories of failure and success

I recently had a terrible failure followed by a success informed by the previous failure. It just goes to show that we should never assume we are the good Samaritan in the parable. We may, in fact, be the priest or the Levite that walks to the other side of the road. Recently on a Friday evening I was getting ready for a conference at a church in Little Rock. I was helping unload boxes of materials for the conference in downtown Little Rock when I was approached by a thin woman on the street. This woman was obviosly high and was asking for money. My first thought was, 'I'm busy, obviouisly occupied, and this person is walking up to me out of the blue and asking for money'. I immediately replied that I had no money (which was true) and regretably could not help her. She responded that she needed money for the bus and if I couldn't give her money, could I please give her a ride. My first thought to this was 'where was she going? Was she going to her drug house, her pimp's house, or some other questionable place. What would people think of me? Would people think I had purchased sevrices? But she was asking for help. I replied that I was working and could not help her. She walked away.

I felt convicted all weekend about this meeting. Then the Holy Spirit spoke to me something like, 'you did not have money, and couldn't give her a ride, but the least you could have done would have been the best - you could have held her hand and prayed for her and told her that God loved her.' Gosh! Why didn't I think of that at the time? I didn't think of it because I was so busy with my agenda that I lost an opportunity to reach out to someone in need, asking for help. I could have prayed with the woman and let her know that there was at least one soul on this earth that cared about her enough to pray with her.

This reminded me in Luke 8 where Jesus is on a mission to heal Jairus's daughter when the woman with the issue of blood approached him in faith and she was healed. Jesus did not have to stop - she was already healed the moment she touched the fringe of His garment. He stopped to bring her back into the community, to show everyone that she was clean and could join the community of faith in worship once again. He stopped in order to give her a personal touch, personal attention, and as a result her life would never be the same. Jesus always responded to anyone reaching out to him in faith, never turning anyone away who was asking for help.

So Monday morning I'm at the church office and an old, thin man walks in. There was no way I was going to allow a repeat of Friday's failure, so I gave him my full attention. He was begging for a job, something to do around the church to make money to buy food. He dressed as well as he could, though his clothes were tattered and torn, and suspenders frayed. His face had some deformity to it that affected his speech. I found out in talking with him that Floyd was 73 years old, could not read or write, and had a very hard life. His parents and siblings had considered him cursed and had given him little attention or care from the time he was little. I asked him if he knew Jesus and he said that though he believed in the Lord, that he didn't go to church because he could not bare to see children afraid of his face. We talked about life and his hardships there out in the parking lot. The secretary and I gave him what money we had on us. Then he said, "please pray with me." When I took his hands he began weeping and sobbing, and laid his head on my shoulder. I just held him and hugged him, then prayed for him. When he left, I had the unique feeling that I had been with Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for allowing me another opportunity to get it right.