By Pastor Tim White
"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8-9 (NLT)
I started this morning with an appointment at McDonalds. These days I am trying to have a healthy lifestyle, so I had a health shake before the meeting and was just planning on having a half cup of coffee. As I walked into the building there was a tall man asking patrons for money. I greeted him and introduced myself. I asked his name, he responded that it was Troy. I said, “Troy, I am a Christian, what can I do for you?” He closed his eyes like the pressure was too much to bear and then answered, “I am from out of town. I broke down here and could you just give me enough money to buy a breakfast sandwich?” I said, “I can’t give you any cash (I didn’t have any cash with me). But I will buy you any breakfast you want inside. I am a big spender.” We went in, I introduced him to the staff, they seemed nervous. “Give him anything he wants for breakfast and it’s on me,” I told the cashier. He ordered a big breakfast with pancakes and a frappachino. I ordered my half cup of coffee for my meeting.
When I handed him his food, I thanked him for the privilege of buying him breakfast. Then said, “Now remember my name is Tim White and I am a pastor, you should visit my church sometime. What was your name again?” He stumbled and said, “John.” I think he thought I was the police - he was struggling to speak.
We parted and I sat down for my appointment. He sat within my eye line. My meeting lasted an hour; he left after maybe 30 minutes. When I left I noticed that he had not taken a bite or an even a sip of his breakfast, but had just left it there.
“Man, I just wasted ten bucks,” I thought.
I do not write this devotion to make you skeptical of helping people, because we do that all the time at Washington Cathedral. Rather to demonstrate how much more powerful it is when you get to know the people you are helping and you do not fall into an institutional role. It is really the only way to help people - to see what is true. To discover what is untrue by this ongoing conversation that only takes place with a person of faith.
Do you need to tackle a tough problem in the life of someone you love? Then go after it fortified by the attitude of Jesus Christ reflected by the apostle Paul. Think the best so that you can tackle the worst problems. . Mano e Mano- as the boxers used to say. A loving conversation with someone who is going to love in spite of the worst and will think the best to such an amazing degree that sooner or later you get permission to talk honestly, forthrightly, transformationally. How many times do we dwell on the worst when the conversation never even begins?
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