Bottle of Cold Water

The other evening, Steve was out of town, and I had a meeting at church. I parked at church and walked downtown to grab some dinner. If I'm eating alone, I often read, as I was that evening. I read a chapter out of Brene Brown's book, Rising Strong. This is what I read:

When you look away from a homeless person, you diminish their humanity and your own. (Quote from Father Murray Powell)

In the chapter, Brown struggles with her reaction to people in need - how she looks away from them instead of connecting with them. I was feeling the guilt of looking away as I read it. As I walked to dinner, a man had asked me for a quarter, and I had told him no.

After dinner, I was walking back to church. I walked by the yogurt store, and stopped, thinking a bottle of water would be great during the meeting, so I turned around and bought one, and dropped it down into my bag.

As I approached church, I saw a woman was sitting on our church steps. I started to go in, and she asked me for - you guessed it - a bottle of water.  No one has ever asked me for a bottle of water.

Do you think God was involved? I do.  I got a second chance to see someone who needed help and to respond. I was able to give a cold, unopened bottle of water to a thirsty woman. I drink water, but I rarely walk around town with an unopened bottle in my bag. And yet, God knew this woman needed water, and God knew I needed to give it to her.  Two humans, needing God.