Today as I walked down the street at lunch, I spotted a man (obviously homeless) walking very slowly with a pronounced limp - pushing a cart that appeared to contain all of his possessions.
Normally, I would not give this person a second thought, but today, I felt compelled to cross the street and catch up to him - to see if he was ok.
When I asked if he was ok or if he needed anything - he just smiled and said he was ok. He did not ask for money or anything. I told him I would pray for him.
So, now I ask you to pray with me for this unknown homeless person and all others who are homeless.
I saw a homeless man who was in terrible shape. His condition was partially due to his refusal to lower himself to the point of being a beggar. I refused to pray for the man. instead, I gave him some money even though at the time I myself had only one pair of shoes, a couple of shirts, and so on. I hoped that he would buy some clothes from Goodwill and buy a mirror and scissors such that he could cut his own hair for zero dollars, and of course get some food.
I saw him again days later. Sure enough he showed me the contents of the bag that he kept beside him and it contained new clothes from Goodwill, a mirror, and a pair of scissors. He looked a ton better due to also wearing some of the new clothes that he had purchased, and also due to having cut his hair.
I then gave him some more money and some buss tickets such that he was not trapped in just one area of the city. Later on some family members, that he contacted, took him in and things just got better for him after that.
My definition of a prayer, is TAKING ACTION!
Imagine I was in hospital and my doctor told me that I was dying of cancer, but he said that that he had good news for me. He said that there were 4 different operations and that each of them gave me a 95% chance of my survival. Even if one failed he could go on to the next.
But suddenly more doctors and nurses gathered around my bed and with a big big smile my doctor said, " We have heard a lot about you and have decided to do things your way".
“We…oh this is so exciting…we have decided to drop ALL FOUR operations.”.
" As do you, we have decided not to take action, but to pray for you, just as do you not take action to help others but choose to pray for them instead. Isn’t this wonderful.". “And so we, here together, will now pray for you.”.
This just does not seem right somehow.
And so on average, 10 million children of ages 5 and under, die per year of starvation and diseases as the religious folk pray for them, and as this in comparison makes the German Holocaust seem like nothing much at all since it was a one time event that involved 6 million people, not 10 million per year, over and over and over again.
But, with my one pair of shoes, and my socks with holes in them, I still donated $354.00 dollars the World Vision(which was also doubled by government assistance) to save as many children as I could, via taking action.
I believe that prayer is one of God’s tests. A test to see who will help another, and who will not.
