What might have been

Where I live we occassionally have transients and homeless people pass through. The other day a man stopped at our house because he recognized the name on my husband’s work trailer. It turned out to be a past friend of my husband. They had hung out together during a rebellious and free spirited time in my husband’s life when they both had excessively used drugs and alcohol.

My husband had the opportunity to talk with his friend for an hour or so and later shared the man’s story with me. The man had continued to use drugs and alcohol and eventually, his entire family had enough of his choices and gave up on him, turned away and did not look back. In his despair he hit rock bottom and became homeless, moving from place to place. He currently lives in a dumpster.

Fortunately, he was just offered a job with the Salvation Army and they are working with him to get needed medical attention, clothes, food and a program to help him become clean and sober.

As we talked later my husband commented, “That might have been my outcome if I didn’t have the love and support of my family.”

This meeting was definitely a Divine Encounter. My husband was home early from work and it just happened to be at the same moment that this man was passing by.

It made me think not only of the unsheltered, homeless people who are out in the cold weather, but also about all the lost souls that don’t know the Lord. They are in dire straights too, and what a difference it will make when someone shares the message of hope with them. That message will encourage them to try again and as new creations in Christ they will have a church family that will faithfully walk beside them as they create a new life in Christ.

We should ask ourselves, “What might be the outcome, if I took the time to share Christ with those in need? The answer is an eternal home filled with love, hope and family.