You just never know …

I want to remember this event that happened to us a few weeks ago, so I am going to share it here.

After a Wednesday night service at church, the kids and I went to the grocery store. It was a pretty uneventful shopping trip until we arrived at the checkout counter. There were two other people in line in front of us so I pushed the buggy (cart for those not from the south :) into line and waited. As we stood there, there was a man at the front of the line who dropped some change. Before I had a chance to stop her, Savannah leapt forward, scooped up the coins and offered them back to the man. I think it was just 2 pennies, but she knew they belonged to him and wanted to help him out. It all happened so quickly, I didn’t have a chance to stop her. I would have preferred she just stand back by me and allow him to pick up his own coins because his appearance wasn’t very inviting. He was disheveled and dirty, probably from a hard day’s work, but he just didn’t appear like someone I would want my daughter to talk with.

He seemed very kind, thanked Savannah, and then offered her the pennies “one for you, one for your brother”, as he had looked back in the line to see Hadden and I standing there. I smiled a thanks and he went on his way. I proceeded to pay for my things and head out to the truck to head home. I got the kids settled in first and then started to load my groceries. Out of the corner of my eye came a small pickup truck that was just as disheveled and dirty as the man had been approaching where I was unloading. The same man from the store held two $1 bills out the window and said “I want your children to have these – they were so sweet to me”. Everything in me wanted to refuse with thoughts of  "surely he needs this money more than I do”. But at that moment, the Lord spoke to me to take the offered money. I obeyed and thanked the man for his kindness to my children. I said “May the Lord bless you” and he drove away.

On the ride home, we had the neatest conversation about what had just happened. The kids couldn’t understand why that man would do that – why he would give them each a dollar. I told them that “you just never know” where a person has been or what God is doing in their lives. Savannah’s kindness to him touched that man and he had responded. We prayed for him and whatever circumstances that he was in and that the Lord would truly bless him and help him. How cool of God to work out the circumstances in such a way that everyone walked away feeling blessed.

My kids treasure those $1 bills – each has it in a special place separate from their other bills. I think it is a good reminder to all of us – for them, to remember a God who blesses them for their kindnesses (even when they weren’t expecting it) and for me to stay out of the way and let God work. We would have missed it, if I had stopped Savannah, or if I had refused to take the offered money. Because “you just never know …”