Tonight I went through Sonic and ordered an extra drink, I really didn’t know why I did that, but I realize now after thinking back on the events that played out after that God had a plan. I was pulling out of the parking lot and I saw a man laying on the concrete.

I started to drive on, and felt a serious pull to turn around, so I did and suddenly knew exactly who that drink was for. As he came up to the car to get the drink I could hear his congestion and even in his “thank you” he sounded sick. So, off to CVS I went. Ok… I am not saying any of this for a pat on the back. (I had some inner turmoil and by no means was perfect through this encounter) Frankly, I am hesitant about this even being my first real post, but I have a tug on my heart so here is what I wrote when I got home.

It took me a bit on the way home to realize who he reminded me so much of. One of my uncles, they had the same eyes. My whole life he was my favorite person, he had the best smile, hugs and the kindest brown eyes. Frankly, I don’t remember him being homeless. I just remember his kind eyes.

We had this place called “tent city” in Athens, Georgia where we lived at the time and we drove past there quite a bit. Momma always made a point to tell us, “Never judge someone for where they live, especially the homeless because we are only one paycheck from there.” Or she’d say “Show them Christ’s love, you don’t know their story.”

I called Momma tonight, and we talked about the time driving down a busy highway, and she pulled over after noticing a man walking around with only one shoe. She yelled “HEY WHAT SIZE SHOE DO YOU WEAR?” Wouldn’t you know… The size she had on…. Good thing momma always wore men’s shoes ’cause of her wide feet. HAHA!

She didn’t think twice about how she couldn’t afford new shoes. She actually had just gotten those. We were so poor, so I know she had saved up for a while. But I think Momma saw his kind eyes.

Jesus probably saw kind eyes when He looked at the Woman at the Well (John 4). The Samaritan woman got defensive when Jesus spoke to her. She probably thought that He had malicious intent as it wasn’t common for men, especially Jewish men to talk to Samaritan women. But Jesus didn’t mind, He knew her heart. He saw kind eyes.

Maybe, I will see the man with the kind eyes again some day. Maybe I can tell him about someone I once knew who shared the same eyes.

Whenever we feel the pull to turn around, order an extra drink or shake someone’s hand I pray that we remember Matthew 25: 35-40 (NLT).