It was a busy morning running errands with my little sidekick, trying to get everything done before the kindergarten bus arrived.
A doctor appointment, Kroger, Wal-Mart, CVS. We brought some Legos along, and Gabe was on his best behavior the entire morning.
When he asked for a sandwich from Subway, I said yes without a second thought.
As we were pulling out of the parking lot, heading toward our next destination, Gabe noticed a man with a sign "Will Work for Breakfast". The man was elderly and clearly had fallen on hard times.
"What's that man doing, Mom? What did his sign say?", Gabe asked from the back seat, as he filled his own belly up with a hot ham and cheese sub and an Icee.
When I tried to explain that the man was asking for money for breakfast, Gabe got so upset.
"We need to go back, Mom. We need to give him some money. What if he dies? That poor man is going to die if he doesn't eat breakfast!".
In our little sheltered town, we rarely see homeless people, and seldom does anyone beg on the roadside. But these are hard times, and this sight is becoming more and more common. I rarely have cash on me, using my debit card everywhere I go, but on this day, I had a 5-dollar bill.
I told Gabe that after we went to CVS, we would drive back and if the man was still there, we would give him the money that we had. He calmed down, we finished our errands, but he did not forget. As soon as we got back in the van, he reminded me to drive back down the road to go "help that poor man".
We went back. He was still there. We pulled up next to him and I handed him the money, telling him that my son wanted him to have it. He looked at Gabe with tears in his eyes, and thanked us both. I confess that I had a tear in my eye as I drove away. Yes, I was sad at this man's plight, and at whatever situation brought him to beg on the corner on a chilly day. But I was even sadder that it took my little boy to notice something that I didn't see as I ran busily about my day.
When we got home, Gabe was still thinking about the man. He said, "we helped that man, didn't we, Mommy? 'Cause we have Jesus in our hearts, right?".
Yes, Gabe, I can honestly say that Jesus is in your heart, for certain.
7 comments:
Wow. That kid is going to change the world. What a good, kind heart he has -- I'm thinking he has a good, kind family. :-)
OK... I totally have tears welling up now myself...
I'm reading "Under the OverPass" about a minster who lived a life of a homeless person for months... so to read that while seeing it through Gabe's eyes... oh my...
"He's gonna die"... that kills me!
Yes Gabe, Jesus just shined through that little heart of yours!
Bless you for being such a good mom & being an example for him too!
You just made me cry. That boy of yours deserves a big hug today.
Such a sweet, sweet boy.
IS IT NATIONAL DON'T POST A TISSUE WARNING WHEN LIZZY-BETH IS SITTING AT A DIFFERENT DESK AND HAS NONE DAY??????
Crud that made me cry. What a beautiful little boy.
I used to work in the gift wrap department at a HUGE department store. I worked Christmas Eve, and primarily wrapped presents for wait-til-the-last-minute-men to give to their wives. And those guys are willing to tip - BIG time. I went home with just shy of $200 in my pocket. It was a COLD Christmas eve - I was racing back to my apartment to throw my stuff together to head to my moms. As I got off my exit, I could see a man standing at the bottom, with a sign. Of course my first thought is "If I give him money he's just going to drink it away." And then this voice told me that wasn't my problem... anything along those line was between that guy and his Savior. I just needed to give. So I got to the end of the exit ramp, rolled down my window, and gave him all my tips... said Merry Christmas and drove away. I hope it helped it. It sure helped me even more.
What a good, sweet boy. The world is lucky to have him in it (and his mama)!
That Gabe sure does ROCK. Thank you for sharing that beautiful, heart-warming story.
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