Please Read

I don't know about you but sometimes I question whether I'm doing what God wants me to do. Some call this a crisis of faith, some call it weakness of the spirit, and some call it backsliding. I don't care what you call it...I call it reality. Sometimes late at night, when I'm the most tired, when I finally have some quiet time with God I begin to wonder (in prayer) have I been doing what He wants me to do.

Saturday night was one of those nights. My wife and I had had an argument that we had not resolved before she went to bed. There was a lull in the number of tweets I received on my Blackberry so I decided to rent a movie with our cable company. The channel we had been watching was the Gospel Channel and they were having some re-run of a celebrity choir competition playing back-to-back. I pressed the On Demand button and rented a show. Around 3 a.m. the movie ended and the choir competition clicked back on. Apparently, I had raised the volume in order to hear the movie dialogue so when the choir sang the music woke my wife up.

This is never a good sign because she always has a hard time falling back to sleep. Of course I was now ready for bed. She went to the fridge and noticed we were out of Diet Coke so she asked me if I would mind going to the corner store for some soda. Reluctantly I agreed.

When I pulled in at the store there was only one car in the parking lot...the store attendant's. No one else was in view. I finished listening to Chris Tomlin's "Amazing Grace" before exiting the car. This couldn't have been more than 15 seconds. When I stepped on the curb I noticed a woman sitting down on the curb...crying. I wondered where she'd come from because I know she wasn't there a second ago.

I asked the store clerk how long she'd been out there. He said that he had just walked past where she was sitting as I pulled up. She hadn't been there. He told me that he would check on her. I pulled up slowly, window down, and listened as he spoke to her. She said that she would be in in a few minutes and that she was okay. Obviously not.

I stepped out of my car and asked her what was going on. She said that she and her mother got into an argument and she didn't want her son to hear it. So she left. The argument was about money and she was unable to maintain a job due to a mental condition.

Let me interject something here. I have a strict policy of not counseling women without a female staff member present. The problem here is that it's 3:15 in the morning.

The woman, Rachel, was obviously distraught. I asked her if I could speak with her and she agreed. She opened up and felt very comfortable talking with me. She told me that she was at the store to use the phone to call a "friend" that would give her money. Of course she'd have to perform sexual favors to get it. She'd done it before and always felt bad afterward. Wow, was I out of my comfort zone. I told Rachel that I needed to call my wife to let her know that all was well and I was helping someone. Upon calling Lisa I thought she'd be the best one to speak to Rachel.

But getting Rachel to Lisa would require taking Rachel in my car to an unfamiliar location...not good. Leaving Rachel to go and get Lisa would mean leaving Rachel in the same situation (alone, sad, and broke) and she would probably leave. I called my wife and asked if she would be willing to talk to Rachel over the phone and she said "of course". So I put the speakerphone on and "voila" I now had my female assistant. Two and a half hours later Rachel was feeling much better. She was smiling and realizing that she was worth more than the $15 or 20 she might get from her "friend".

Rachel was so thankful that someone cared enough to help her. I told her that we weren't done. I reached in my wallet and gave her $20. She refused, at first, but then agreed to take it. She walked home, happy, and told me that she had never felt so much love from a stranger. I told her about Jesus. She said she didn't know Him either but that she would like to. We prayed together and she accepted Him.

God gave me my answer in the form of Rachel. Friends, when you are doing His work, try not to doubt yourself. Someone out there needs you.

In Christ,

Jase