coat

This week a huge storm was supposed to hit sometime Wednesday night and last a few days, and the weather forecast said it would dump a good inch of rain in a 24hour period! Wednesday is the night I lead a "Can We Help?" team on the streets downtown. We went out with our supplies and had some really good encounters with some homeless kids and we were headed to the streetcar to come back to the church when we saw a girl who looked about 22 or 23 panhandling at a bus stop. We went over to her and asked her if she needed anything, and we gave her some socks and a few other things. I realized she was only wearing jeans and a really thin tee shirt, so we asked her if she had a coat, and she said she didn't, but she was alright at night because she had a quilt to sleep under. We talked to her for several more minutes and God asked me to give her my coat. My coat is a black wool peacoat with faux fur on the collar and sleeves, and I've loved it the entire three years I've owned it. I'm not the thinnest thing on the planet, and neither was she, so I was thinking it may not be easy for her to find a good fitting coat. I took my coat off as casually as I could (I was somehow hoping the two others with me wouldn't notice - as if!) and just put it on her. And it fit like a glove! It's my only coat, but I knew that God would take care of it if I obeyed Him.

The couple that was on the outreach team with me kept asking me afterwords what I was going to do for a coat, and I played it off and said it wasn't a problem, knowing that it won't get really cold here for another month, and by then I'll be able to afford a new coat. The most I'm out is usually walking to and from work or church, which only takes about 10 minutes to either, and I'm walking the whole time, so no big deal. I have a heck of alot more than that girl does, so I have nothing to complain about. Anyway, we met up with the other half of our team, which was three ladies that were praying along the route we were going (we always have a team prayer walking while we do outreach) at the streetcar stop, and much to my embarrassment the couple I was with started telling them that I had given my coat away. It turns out they saw the whole thing because they were praying across the street and had been praying for the girl I gave my coat to. One of them felt very strongly as they prayed that God wanted to release a sense of joy to that girl, and just then I gave her my coat, and they said they immediately felt like God was using that to answer their prayer. I was telling my friend Rachael about it later and said I wish nobody had seen it, but since everyone had, and I'm the team leader, I had to trust that God would use it in their lives as much as he used it in this homeless girl's life, and not let my pride come in the back door.

Yesterday I got an email from the couple that were with me on the outreach team, and they asked if they could take me out for lunch today. They said it was because they hadn't had a chance to spend time with me outside of CWH, and wanted to get to know me a bit better. They took me to this awesome Italian place and treated me to an amazing brunch. It was really nice to get to know them better, especially as I really liked them from the moment I met them, and wanted to know them better. When we were done eating and getting ready to leave they casually asked me if I had much going on the rest of the day, to which my answer was "chores and laundry" and a frown. So they told me that they would like to take me out and buy me a new coat. I started to protest and they said they wouldn't take no for an answer, at which point I got very teary and choked up (and they did too a bit) and thank them. I am now the proud owner of a brand new beautiful vintage-inspired heather-colored wool coat(that's it in the picture!). Isn't God amazing? I didn't even have to go three days without a coat. I didn't give that girl my coat because I wanted a new one, but God wanted me to obey not only to bless a cold homeless girl, but to bless me twice by letting me have the joy of giving and the awe of receiving, and letting this couple have the joy of giving as well.