Day 142 "A Chance Encounter?"

One never knows how lives are affected by such acts as kindness, mercy, grace, love, and acceptance.

I once came across a story of a woman who was driving through a rough neighborhood. She was not accustomed to coming to this part of town and apparently made a wrong turn somewhere. But as she went through one of its intersections, she took note of a burly, unkept man who was standing on the corner. There was something that moved her. Perhaps, it was the despondent look she thought she saw upon his face. "Go back," she felt she was being guided to do. Surely she must have misunderstood the prompting. "He's looks like someone in the Hell's Angels," she tried to assure herself and she drove on further up the street. "Go Back," she again heard inside of her. Reluctantly, she turned the car around and headed back towards the man that she hoped would no longer be there. But he was. Slowly she approached the corner and the man and rolled down the window on the passenger side of the car. "Excuse me, I am not usually one to do this, but I felt something calling me to turn around and tell you something. God, loves you." Feeling somewhat awkward, certainly outside her comfort zone, as the words left her she felt a certain uneasiness. But as she waited, with no traffic behind her, she witnessed a changing disposition of the man right before her eyes. With tears welling up in his eyes, with disbelief he came closer to the car, leaned forward, and confessed in a slow unsteady voice, "Lady, I don't know who you are, but I was on my way to taking my own life. I was just trying to figure out where to do it. I couldn't decide. So, I prayed to God that if he was real, to send me some kind of a sign to let me know. Cause, I can't take this anymore." With tears coming to her own eyes, the woman asked the man, "Is there something I can do for you? The man responded, "Lady, you have done more than you will ever know! Thank you. Thank you." With that, the man slowly stepped back away from the car. As the woman slowly drove away, the man disappearing from her rear view mirror, she thought to herself, ""Surely, that must have been just a chance coincidence. Or was it?"

Go figure. God using a woman, in a rough part of town, to touch the heart of a man that many of us would fearfully avoid. Yet, the sensitivity to God's Spirit within her helped to change the destiny of this particular soul. Who knows? Who knows how the lives of those around us can be affected when we take our eyes off of ourselves and seek to see the world around us a God sees it, as God feels it.

"Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him." 1 John 4:9

"Perfect love casts out all fear." 1 John 4:18

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Whose life will you touch today?

In his love, see you tomorrow...

"Carpe Momentum in Love" (Seize the moment in love)