A Real Man

So, I was sitting at work one day in Dallas (sometime in 2002), dreaming about lunch. I’m a pretty big guy and this is a common occurrence.

I had five bucks and change in my pocket and I was thinking about how I was going to go to the Italian place two blocks away and get a stromboli. yuuummmm.

Carla and I had just talked the night before about not using the credit cards. You know, the whole radical idea of not spending money you don’t actually have. Where do people get this crazy stuff?

So, I was going to be good. I was going to spend actual cash.

As I was sitting there, I felt God tell me that he wanted me to give my money away and fast for lunch. I had been thinking about fasting and had done it once or twice and it was pretty cool. Not something I wanted to do all the time, but a good thing to get one focused on the right stuff.

Ok, the whole fasting thing is cool and all, but this stromboli is GOOD. It was not going to kill me to miss a meal or six, but I really wanted that stromboli.

Here’s what I did: I said, ‘Ok, God. If someone asks me for some money when I go to lunch, I’ll give them all my cash. But if they don’t, I’m doing the stromboli thing.”

I sat at my desk, counting the minutes until lunch. I planned to have a working lunch…

11:30:01 I was out the door. I didn’t get twenty feet before a homeless-looking guy walks up to me and asks if I have any spare change. Boom. Just like that.

What was I supposed to do? If I give this guy my money, no stromboli. There was no way I could use a credit card to buy myself lunch…

Then, I had a brilliant idea. It was so brilliant, I was stunned by its clarity and magnificence. I would use a credit card to buy HIM lunch. That way, I would get my stromboli and eat it too. So to speak. I would gain points with God for being obedient, and there was no way that using a credit card to help someone could be wrong.

I said, “How about I just buy you lunch?”

He said, “Ok.”

I asked him where he wanted to eat, but his attitude was “you’re buying, I’m flying.” I suggested Subway and he said fine. (Crucial part of the plan; Subway takes plastic, McDonald’s doesn’t.)

As we walked to Subway (which is, coincidentally, just past the stromboli place), I talked with him and asked him questions about his life. His name was Keith, and he seemed fairly with it. There did seem to be just a little something missing. Not mentally, more like he had accepted his station and had given up. This, from a five minute conversation…

Anyway, I told him that I was buying him lunch because God told me to and had given me the money to do it. I just didn’t tell him which money… As we waited for his 12 inch meatball and mayo combo, we chatted about inconsequentials, I paid, wished him luck and headed to stromboli heaven.

I crossed the street and was immediately run over by a bus.

Just kidding.

Sitting on the sidewalk, right in front of me, was a guy asking for spare change.

Stromboli.

I told the guy, “I’m sorry, I just bought lunch for someone and now, all I have is enough money to buy myself lunch.” I then promised to help him out another day.

I walked away, towards my blessed stromboli.

Inside the Italian place, I ordered my stromboli, paid, and sat down to wait for them to heat it up. As I was waiting, I thought, “I have change in my pocket. I can take it to the second guy who asked for money.” I was so impressed with myself. I had been obedient to God, bought Keith lunch, got a stromboli, and was about to give my change to another homeless guy. It was the five loaves and two fishes all over again in Dallas, Texas.

I stepped out onto the sidewalk and started to walk towards the guy begging on the sidewalk. I looked up the street to where he was and stopped in my tracks. Sitting next to him, sharing his sandwich, was Keith. He had taken the sub I bought and split it with the guy. Even the chips and soda.

I made myself keep walking towards them, even though I was struggling not to cry. I handed the man my change and told Keith, “You’re a better man than I am.”

It sounded melodramatic, but there was nothing else I could say. Here I was, a fat, rich man, blessed by God with everything I needed. There was Keith, a skinny, homeless guy, blessed by God with a good heart.

I Samuel 15:22