Jon's Dollar

Jon’s dollar

1 Timothy chapter 6 (NLT) 11 “Follow what is right and good. Pursue a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.”

Everyone who shops in the Broadway’s shopping center knows Jon. He is honestly a rather homely looking fellow, probably late 40’s and completely blind. I have seen him often a few times a week over the last 10 years. He rides the bus, is trying to lose weight, has a girl friend in a wheelchair and a very large white cat, which is part of the reason he prefers a cane over a guide dog.  I’ve picked up this information over the years shopping along side him or standing next to him in line at the 4 or 5 little shops near my house. Since I do most of our family’s shopping I’ve never been sure how much or even if my children have noticed Jon. That was until last week when after work we made an emergency milk stop at Kroger’s.

I had Josiah with me and we ended up in line right behind Jon. I was in a hurry to get home and start dinner so I wasn’t paying much attention to my surroundings as I juggled my Kroger’s card, purse, keys and pulled out my wallet. Oddly though the man behind me slipped his foot in front of me, stepped on a wrinkled dollar bill, slid his foot back and picked it up. I didn’t give it much thought until Josiah pulled on my shirt. I’ve taught my children not to interrupt while I’m checking out but when I saw the expression on my son’s face I knew something was wrong. He was acting very nervous, something he doesn’t normally do. I asked Josiah what he wanted to say and he said “I’ll tell you in the car” but the look on his face said this was important now. So I stopped the cashier in mid-sentence and asked Josiah to whisper to me what he needed to say. He whispered in my ear “that man took Jon’s dollar off the floor and we don’t take money from others Momma, and you know Jon can’t see.”  I paused, I swallowed hard. Then I turned to the cashier and said loudly, “Is Jon still here? He’s dropped a dollar and (pointing to the man behind me) this gentleman picked it up for him.” In the car I praised Josiah for speaking up and doing the right thing. He told me that he knew he wasn’t supposed to interrupt me but he also knew that “Jon needs all of his dollars.”

Sometimes it’s hard to pursue a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. We have to balance many things in our lives; our days are long and the demands great. Still we must take a minute to make sure our neighbors are cared for - down to the dollar.

Prayer-

Most Precious Lord Jesus,

According to your love and will, may I always have a kind, caring, understanding, and sympathetic heart towards others.

Let me let others know I care about them and that you care about them. According to your love and will, may I always be a carrier of your light in the darkness for those people around me who may be groping and hurting in the dark.

Amen