Entertaining angels

Tonight Scott taught the lesson at youth. He told a (true) story a preacher once told him.  It was regarding the verse:

Hebrews 13:2 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

This preacher was walking along in town and saw a man he did not know around town (the same town I live in now which 20 years ago was very small).  He was dressed like a homeless man and stopped the preacher to ask for $1 to get something to eat.  The preacher waved him off saying he didn’t have time.  About four steps past the man, he realized what he had done and that he shouldn’t have acted that way.  He turned around to give him the dollar and the man was gone.  He said there was nowhere he could have gotten that quickly, nowhere to hide anywhere around him.  He insists to this day it was an angel sent to test how he would react.

There were two instances just this week where I felt led to give two people money or at least offer help and I didn’t.  One was in the grocery store. A man was buying some very cheap meals in front of us and he gave the cashier all change and then was scrounging for the rest.  I almost offered to pay the rest as I had a $10 bill right in front of me.  He ended up producing some $20s out of his pocket so I didn’t say anything but still, I still felt like I should have offered.  Those $20s may have been rent or mortgage money.

The second was of a man walkin on an Interstate ramp near my house.  He had a hiking backpack on, was young and didn’t look homeless exactly but seemed on a trip in some way.  He wasn’t really going anywhere and even after my van passed him and no cars were behind him, he didn’t attempt to cross the road on the ramp and wasn’t really going anywhere.  Scott and the girls were with me and it wasn’t really feasible to take him anywhere but I still felt led to stop and ask if we needed to call someone or even if he needed money.   And yet, I kept driving.

Opportunities missed that I’ll never get back and probably have to answer for in heaven.  It saddens and disappoints me that I can’t listen to His voice even in the simplest of things.