Blessing Bags

Several years ago Ryan and I did the Crown Financial bible study series on how to manage your money in a godly way. Part of that study talked about helping the poor. I remember our group having an in depth discussion on what exactly Jesus meant when he commanded us to help the poor (because today's society looks a lot different than biblical times). Our discussion eventually lead to some pretty standard questions: What do you do about beggars? Do you give them money and risk them spending it on drugs of alcohol? Do you do something else like buy them a meal? Should we do anything for them at all?

One of the ladies in our group said that she always kept water bottles in her car and when she saw someone standing on a street corner, she'd roll down her window and hand them a water bottle. Intriguing. That definitely got me thinking, but that's about as far as things went.

Five years later, I still have never done anything to help. Actually, I take that back. One time about two years ago, I saw a homeless man sitting at the intersection as I was getting onto the highway. I happened to have some cookies in my car, so I rolled down my window and I handed them to him...but that hardly counts.

Anyway. Every time I see someone standing on the side of the road I feel like I should do something, but I never do. For awhile I thought maybe I should keep some gift cards for McDonald's or Subway in the car and hand those out, but I never did anything about it.

Then a few weeks ago I was reading a blog—Life Unexpected—and I saw a post she did about homeless bags. What a great idea! She packed bags full of food, toiletries, socks, etc. and kept the bags in her car so when she saw people she would have something to give them. Brilliant. If her husband was with her when they saw someone, he would get out of the car and ask the person their name and tell them that he would be praying for them. How awesome is that?

I loved her idea, so I decided to make blessing bags of my own. Most of the time I'm driving by myself or with my girls, so getting out of the car and talking to someone might not be the best idea, but I can at least have bags packed in the car ready to hand to someone when I have the opportunity.

Here are some ideas of what to put in the bags: non perishable food and drinks, toiletries, cards, a pocket bible. I ended up adding a few other things too: first aid kits, note pads and pens, mittens. You could really add whatever you want.

Then I printed out some blessing cards.

And put everything together in bags.

Now I'm going to put these bad boys in the car and be prepared next time I see someone in need. To be honest, I'm a little nervous about giving the bags away. It's kind of a weird thing. But I just hope that God uses it as a way to touch someone who may have lost hope.

It really is easy to put these together, and it's not a huge investment considering the impact that you could have on a person's life. So go make some bags people!