day #1 of traveling to the east coast is in the books. we got up and on the road this morning at around 7:30am, and arrived in fort wayne at around 7:20pm (after loosing an hour to the time change).the bed of the truck (left) was loaded up with all of our gear as well as all of the stuff for tahoe (our dog) who will be staying here in fort wayne with my parents while we are going. the bed of the truck was full with cailyn, tahoe, and myself. and it was rather hot to say the least (the ac doesn't work).
we really enjoyed the time to just be together driving. it was a great start to the trip.
the one story that sticks with me from today was this family (dad, mom, and son) who we ran into at the rest stop that we stopped at to eat lunch (subway that we picked up a few exits earlier). i had noticed that the dad and son had been soliciting a few people for money, and i wondered what their story was. i headed to the bathroom before we were going to leave, and the whole time i was in the bathroom, i was thinking about whether i was supposed to help them or not. and on my way back from the bathroom, sure enough, they intersected with me.
the guy said that he wasn't a bum, but that he was needing money to get his family to indianapolis (we were about 140 miles outside of indy). he said that his wife had lost the funds they had. so, feeling like i should help them out, i went to the car and got them a $20 bill and we got back on the road.
but as i drove, i continued to think about it. i was bothered, because i noticed as we were leaving that the family did not get into their vehicle and leave, but rather, they went back to the table they had been sitting on top of, almost as if they were waiting to solicite more people. it was just hard for me, because i had given them $20 and i had seen two other people already give them money. and i know for a fact that was enough money for them to have made it to indy. and so it is really hard for me to believe that they were not just working the system.
it is a really tough thing for me. first of all, i really struggle to figure out how i should be Christ in that situation. what would He do. what is my response supposed to be. and then my heart really broke for that kid...if it is indeed a scam...that is an absolutely terrible story for that little boy to grow up into.
all in all, it was a tough deal...and yet it was good...it was formative...and it provided for good conversation and thinking.
so, tomorrow, mom, dad, cailyn, and i will load up and head to yorktown, va. if everything goes as planned, we should be to yorktown by 9pm. just in time to get the bikes unloaded and setup, and to get to bed to be ready to hit the road on monday morning. we will try to cover about 92 miles on monday.
i will try to make a post tomorrow with our packing list on it along with a picture of all of the gear.
2 comments:
Good to hear you guys made it to Indiana ok. I bet that was a fun ride with a hot dog (pun :)) in the cab with you the whole way!
I can understand your feelings about the family that you gave money to at the rest stop. I always find it hard to put away the feeling that I may be getting scamed, or just getting past the wierdness of just giving someone some money, especially if they do not solicit it.
Tracy and I were shoping at Aldi yesterday and we overheard a conversation between a husband and wife about their grocery list. He wanted to get some juice, but she said that if they bought it, they would have to cut something else out of their list because they didn't have enough money. Tracy asked me if I thought we should give them some money. I really wanted to help them, but I felt really wierd about just walking up to them and handing them some money. In the end, we never ended up helping them because there was never what I felt was a good time to approach them. I feel bad about not helping them. Why do we sometimes feel so wierd about offering to help someone? I had some extra money, they needed it; why couldn't I have just given it to them? I feel like I let my pride get in the way of helping someone that God put it my path.
Anyway, I say all of this to encourage you. Yeah, so maybe they were running a scam. That doesn't discount the fact that you were generous as God has called us to be. God will judge our hearts and theirs. Besides, we far more often regret the things we do not do then the things we do.
Dude I think you did the right thing. I mean what if it is not a scam and they just need some food also and didn't wnat to ask? Even if not I believe that Jesus would love those people with what means he had...and since you were in a hurry your means was the twenty dollars.
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