I was in Euston Station preparing to catch a train,
and then I had an urge for a Chai Latte – probably the most tasty hot
drink I know of. I did find myself swaying on the shores of uncertainty,
see-sawing between “should I buy it or not”, specifically “is it worth
the few £’s or not”? Often before I would not have thought much about
it, and would have easily gone to buy it, in my mind my one selfish
indulgence for the day… However thinking it through, I realised I take
many liberties during the day, many self-gratifying indulgences, without
thinking about it.
I
was contrasting this experience with another one a few weeks back where
I was a homeless man on the street. He stopped me and asked me for some
money – I did engage with him, as I felt something on my heart that I
needed to. So I followed him down the street so I could buy him the food
– unfortunately the shop he wanted to go into was closed. So I faced
the dilemma of “do I give this man money even though I can clearly see
he is drunk”. Remembering a pastor’s sermon where he said that for some
of us (me), we withhold money from the poor as we feel they will misuse
it – he said that this in itself is a misuse of our money. He also
pulled something out of Proverbs (I believe) which said that “he who
gives to the poor, lends to the Lord”, and given that the Lord’s
interest rates are ridiculous, that is always a good investment. So I
decided to buy the man a drink (non-alcholic!) and give him some change
so he could get himself some food – whether or not he bought it was his
responsibility.
