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Homeless, Homeless

A few weeks ago my Bishop told us a story of his wife giving money to a panhandler. The people she was with all asked her why she did it. She said, “It was just a dollar.”

The rest of the talk was about always following through with the promptings we are given. We don’t always need to give the panhandler money but if we feel like we should, if we have a prompting to do so, we need to do it.

My Bishop’s thoughts have stayed with me because there are actually a surprising amount of homeless people in Provo. Over a year ago, I went to Smith’s late at night and there was a man who looked homeless, buying some soda and chips with some change. I had the strongest feeling I should offer to buy his food but I chickened out. I was alone and I didn’t know if I should intervene without someone else there with me. I will never forget that feeling I had, though, a feeling I didn’t act on.

Last night, after T.J. and I got some frozen yogurt, I saw a homeless man going through the trash looking for food. It was freezing outside. I couldn’t imagine not having a place to stay or having warm food to eat. I had another strong feeling that I should go buy him some food. I convinced T.J. and so we went to the nearest fast food place in the shopping center.

It was closed. I didn’t know what to do, the man was walking away, the other fast food places were across town. So we just went home.

I’m still thinking about it today.

We need to be more Christ-like and serve those when we have the opportunity to do so. It may not make a much of a difference to us, but it can answer a prayer for someone else. Follow those promptings. The feeling of regret is horrible.

 

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