Giving Away Blessing Bags

Found this photo on this website.

I did it! I gave away some of my blessing bags this week... and it was really awesome!

The first opportunity came last Thursday, which was an extremely cold, windy day. We were driving to meet my mom for lunch and I saw the guy sitting on the corner. He was hunched over, clutching a sign, and obviously freezing. My heart jumped when I saw him, this was it. I was a little nervous, but I pulled the car over, jumped out, handed a blessing bag to the guy and ran back to the car. As I drove away I looked in my rearview mirror and saw him digging through the bag, then I turned and he was gone... and I cried. I have no idea why I cried. For all I know he could have looked in the bag and threw it away. But for some reason, watching him look in the bag made my heart hurt. I have no idea what happened that lead him to the corner that day, but he had hit rock bottom and that made me sad.

But that's not where the story ends. I met my mom in the parking lot and we went into the restaurant, ordered food and sat down to eat. About halfway through our meal, as I was explaining to Cameron why we don't eat macaroni and cheese off the floor (awesome!), a man walked in and sat at a corner table. He looked pretty rough, freezing and probably homeless, but I couldn't tell for sure so I watched him for a couple minutes. When no one else came to join him and I saw him blowing into his scarf to try and warm up I decided that my gut was probably right, he was homeless. At that point I wasn't thinking about the fact that it was probably the same man from the corner, but in retrospect it probably was.

After a few minutes of debating what to do, I made up my mind. I went up and asked him if it would be ok if I bought him a sandwich. At first he was a little hesitant. I think he was worried I was going to try and get him thrown out of the restaurant. But when he realized I was trying to help, he took me up on my offer. He said a sandwich would be nice and maybe something warm. I ordered him a sandwich and a hot chocolate. Then Cameron and I went over to deliver the food to his table. He seemed very thankful. I introduced myself and shook his hand (which was FREEZING) and asked for his name...it was Mark.

I have no idea if we made an impact on Mark or not. But I hope we did. I pray he saw Jesus in us and I pray that we gave him a little sense of hope. Most likely I won't be making a habit of buying homeless people meals, I think this was just a way for God to catch my attention that day. But you never know...

Saturday I had another opportunity to give away another bag. It wasn't as much of an ordeal, I barely had time to get the bag out the window of the car before I had to turn, let alone ask the man his name. But I was thankful that I had something to give him.

So long story longer :) the blessing bags were awesome! The money I spent was definitely worth it and I plan to continue to keep my car stocked so I can be prepared when I run into homeless people in the future.

Go make some bags. I promise it will be worth it.