Today, as I left Walmart I felt overwhelmingly convicted. I mean honestly, for all the times I feel convicted at Walmart, they should assign a pastor and potentially build an altar in front of the store for immediate counseling for me. It makes me a wreck. In the middle of the store, I always lose my patience and want to slap a parent who allows their child to scream for an hour straight... take the poor thing home (I'm not oblivious to the fact that kids pitch fits in stores, that is not the issue, it's the constant screaming for long periods of time and the facial expression of the parent that lets me know something's not right about the whole situation). I want to run my cart over the lady who stands in the middle of every aisle I'm in without considering anyone else. After I have recovered my body language and can stand upright again after the shock I've experienced, I finally make it to the register to stare at endless magazines of Hollywood crap and overpriced gum to on a good day be greeted by a nice cashier who doesn't want to kill everyone in the store herself. I should probably congratulate these cashiers more often. I look straight into the face of a Walmart employee who looks like a manager that was very rude to me at another store a couple of years ago and pull back my pride to allow him to step in front of me to purchase his lunch that he probably only has ten minutes to eat and the Lord knows he probably needs a week's vacation after working in this place. I just don't know how they do it.
Nevertheless, every single time, I'm ready to press a button to end that blasted store and kicking myself as to why I even bothered to go in there, God places a remarkable person in my path. I usually see them a ways off as they wander through the parking lot talking to various people and walking away nodding silently. This particular man today had two small children with him. They are not dressed for the season and look exhausted. The man approaches me for some change and I give him some and ask if he would like a bottle of water... he takes a couple for he and his kids and thanks me and goes on his way. I did nothing significant and really did not provide any major relief for whatever he is experiencing but God spoke something deep into me in that moment.
The church is very good at talking about the poor but very uncomfortable with doing something about it. I often hear other Christians talk about how homeless people should not walk through parking lots or stand at traffic lights with signs... they should go get a job, they should find a decent place to live.... Now imagine that you have no permanent place to live and therefore cannot receive an ID that would allow you to even complete a job application. Yes, I know that many people who are homeless, especially in the city of Las Vegas, are addicts to many things... gambling, relationships, drugs, alcohol, etc. However, is it really our job/right/duty/call to sit back and make those calls? To be the ones who decide? I was so convicted with how little we are convicted to do something about the poor in the places we live. We are often willing to get in a car, bus, or plane to travel to another place to do "missions" but we are not even serving people who need something small around us. I challenge you (and myself) to move past your comfort zone and give of yourself to someone who asks. You don't have to buy them a steak dinner or give them a $20... just give them a few minutes, a cheap hamburger, a bottle of water, something that can change their perspective for a moment. Go to Walmart and see who needs the life of Jesus in you. I guarantee that someone does, we just have to be willing to step out of us and into who He is to see it. -Melis
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