In my way back home from the gym I was listening K-love (a Christian radio station) and I heard a story that one of the listeners shared that deeply moved my heart, so I'm sharing it with you!
“I was getting ready for work this am and looked out my window and saw a man on a bike stopping to pick pecans up under the tree in my front yard. We live in south Louisiana and here people will pick pecans and sell them. In our little town several of what we call “the druggies” go around picking pecans out of people’s yards. I knew the man and knew that he had a drug problem and had even spent time in prison. I didn’t have the heart to ask him not to pick my pecans. Truth is I didn’t have the time to pick them and they were selling for $1 a pound, so he could have them. I said to myself, “I will just back out of the drive and pretend like I don’t see him.”
The Lord just spoke to my heart, “What, do you think he is invisible? He is just as important to me as you are.” WOW! It just got me in the heart. Instead of pretending he was invisible I decided to just stop at the end of the driveway acknowledge him and ask how he was doing. As I got out of my truck and walked toward him, he lowered his head and wouldn’t look at me. I squatted on the ground next to him and asked how he was doing. He said he was doing okay, and asked if he was doing something wrong, and said he would leave. I told him no, he was fine. I knew he had diabetes and so I asked how that was. He said it was okay, but that he had a problem with his liver and the dr. had given him 9-12 weeks to live. I asked him if he knew the Lord and did he know where he would go if he died. “To hell I guess.” he said. I asked him had he ever asked God into his heart. He began to cry said that he had when he was 8 but that he had let God down so many times, that he drank, did drugs and used crack. He said that when he was in prison he went to church and prayed, but when he got out he quit.
I reached for his hand and told him that God didn’t love him any more or less for that and that He forgives us. I talked to him some more and learned so much about his life in just a few short minutes. I shared the love of God with him and prayed for him and then left him there picking pecans and went to work. What an impact those 15 minutes had on my life. People are not invisible. They don’t just wake up in the am and say, “Gee I would like to be a drug addicted, or alcoholic, spend time in jail and alienate my entire family.” They all have a story. Many times it is filled with hurt and pain. We just have no idea. They are still a child of the most high God and He still loves them just the same. Just the same as me. I pray that God would heal him and be with him. I thank God for the perspective He has given me that has changed how I look at others. The difference that was made today, was in me.“
