Allow me to share a true story:

One day, as my friend (from another country) and I were waiting for our metro car to leave the station, a beggar with no legs rolled toward us in a wheelchair.

Looking up into our faces, he asked us to take pity on him.

Without looking him in the eye, I gave him twice as much as I usually give beggars, but my face was cold and judgmental.

My friend rummaged in her purse for a long time. In the end, she poured all her change into his palm, indicating with hand movements that this was all she had.

The man seemed to understand. He started pointing to a ring on one of her fingers. Smiling, he gestured that he had recognized the Christian symbol on it. She smiled back at him.

Then he took her hand and began to kiss the ring and her hand. He gestured for her to kiss him on the cheek.

With the whole metro car watching, my friend bent over and kissed the beggar on his dirty cheek, which was wet with tears. *

Sometimes, friends ask me how I decide what to write or share here, where I find “material.”

The truth is, some days I write for me.

I am the one who needs to read this.
I am the one who needs to heed this.
I am the one who needs to soften his heart.

“I have no silver or gold, but what I have, I give you.” **

Hopefully…

thankfully…God is not yet finished with me…

*Lena Kim, Moscow, Russia, from The Upper Room
**The Bible, Acts 3:6