No Regrets in '09

I'm blessed to not carry around too much regret in my life. Don't get me wrong, there's PLENTY of mistakes I've made and things that I have messed up so horribly, that it'd be easy to do. But for whatever reason (faith, awesome parents, just the way I'm wired, etc.) for the most part, I'm able to move on from mistakes and see them as learning opportunities.

But over Christmas I did something that I truly regret.

Actually, it was something I didn't do.

I pulled off the interstate on my way to go workout. It's a route I drive all the time. At this particular intersection, there's often a homeless person standing there holding a sign for some help. Many times I, like many people, will throw a couple bucks or some spare change into that person's hand. My wife will often run to a drive thru and bring the person a meal. She's good like that.

As I pull up to the light, a few cars are ahead of me, and I see a guy standing outside. I'm too far back to make out what his sign says. It's bitter cold outside and I suddenly start having this thought: "Give him your gloves."

My selfish nature instantly kicks in. "C'mon...they're nice black leather gloves. Just give him some spare change and be done with it" I tell myself.

I begin to fiddle with the inane Sports Talk radio that I'm listening to. Trying to buy time. But the thought still pops up in my head: "Give him your gloves."

The light turns to green, and the cars ahead of me begin to move. Meanwhile, my excuses continue to flow. "Nobody else is stopping....He'll be fine....I'll say a prayer for him..." etc. etc. etc.

Then, as I pull up closer, I see him take his hands out of his pockets and rub them together to warm them up.

That's the image that I can't get past. Because rather than doing something, I did nothing. I truly felt convicted by Jesus, that when it came to loving my neighbors, I was falling woefully short. For me to pull over, give that man a pair of gloves that I can afford to easily replace would not have required much effort on my part. What I mustered up was no effort. To quote the great Charles Barkley, that's just turrible.

A few hours passed, and I had blocked what happened out of my mind. Thankfully, Jesus wasn't done making his point to me.

I got into a conversation with my boss, and she was telling me about this exchange she had with a homeless man, just the night before. Basically, she took time to listen to his story, then went inside a nearby Food City and bought him something to eat for the evening. Then she said as she was walking away, he thanked her and yelled out a Bible verse for her to read when she got home.

Proverbs 3: 27-28.

As she recited the words, I knew that God was really speaking through her experience to hammer home his point to me.

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it,
when it is in your power to act.

Do not say to your neighbor,
"Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow"—
when you now have it with you.

It's the verse that will serve as my resolution for '09. So I can avoid the regret of not doing the right thing for the right person when the opportunity presents itself again.

Thank you for reading. I pray that you and yours will be blessed richly in 2009!
lance