“Poor guy”, we said.

30 Minutes Earlier:
We were in Downtown Dallas coming out of a very wealthy and successful church. I was mesmerized by the modern architecture and facilities. It was like they went 10 years into the future, hired me as a design consultant, brought me back to today, and let me design their $47.2 million dollar campus with a blank check.

Dual escalators. Wall of elevators. Coffee Shops. Lounge areas. WIFI. Modern art. A three story wall of glass looking into Dallas. Top of the line digital sound board. I was drooling.

I was there because my friend just became the worship leader at the church. I was helping him move his office in. On one of our trips to the car to get his gear, I accidently looked up. I saw a 30+ story building with solid black reflecting windows, right across the street. The famous sky scrapper that has the green outlining lights on it at night was two blocks east.

“Wow. Wicked cool. This is amazing.”

I never look up in Wichita Falls because, well, it’s ugly. I was looking up everywhere. I felt like I was in NYC, but in Texas. This church was strategically placed in the heart of Downtown Dallas.

We both felt the wealth, progress, business, and success everywhere. You could taste ambition. “Wow. Wow. Wow.” That’s all we could say. “Wow.” It was almost like a Microsoft Vista commercial. We were experiencing the ‘wow’.

I was still on a sensual high from how perfect and intentional everything was. None of this was an accident. There was a lot of hard work and hard money in this place. It was a perfect day. We were having a great time hanging out and celebrating what God was doing in his life. We heard a song about sowing in tears and reaping in joy. That’s all we could think about. I said, “Phil, God has blessed you for all your faithfulness and good attitude. Isn’t He good?!?!”

It was surreal. With our smiles plastered on our fat heads, we walked out of the church to move his car from the parking meter, and there on the street was a shady looking guy staring us down.

Every American knew what was coming – a plea for help.

Since we didn’t want to seem like the selfish people we are, we kept walking in his direction and eye contact was made. We heard a story of how he just got out of the penitentiary and had to be in Tyler by 9:00 AM in the morning or he will be sent back. He was broke and lost his bus ticket on the street.

“Yeah right”, I thought to myself.

Phil tried to quickly figure out a solution to help the guy, but we were both drawing blanks. I mean, this was really inconvenient.

The guy kept saying “Please man, I’m desperate. I’m desperate man. I got no where to go. I’m desperate man. I don’t know what to do. I’m desperate. Please help.”

To be honest, we really didn’t desire to help him.

I glanced at the facade of the church and all her grandness. Something happened. I realized that $47 million dollars of structure, design, and all that is hip couldn’t do anything for this desperate man. He was standing on the steps of one of the wealthiest churches in the world, needing a bus ticket, and nothing could be done. That’s the church man has made. And it’s become perfectly okay with most of us.

We cut to the chase and asked him what he needed. He needed $23 to buy a new bus ticket and that would start him on his journey of fighting life outside the pen. Our first response was that we didn’t have any money, but God wouldn’t let go of me. I just couldn’t stand in front of that church and look this man in the eyes and say “I’m too selfish to help you. Find someone else who cares.” I told him to sit on the steps and that we would go get some money from an ATM.

Upon driving away we confessed what was in our pockets. The truth was Phil had $8, and I had a crisp $100 bill that a church gave me to help with my moving expenses. I also had another $8. After finding no luck at locating a place to make change, we came back as promised and gave him our $16. I prayed with him and asked God to inhabit his soul and lead him to selfless people who could care for him and give him a shot at life. He was very grateful and went on his way.

To be transparent, I’m really struggling with the thought that I should have given him the $100. I never carry cash, but that day I did. Where does God under provide for our needs? I really messed up. $16 is less than $23. We didn’t meet his need.

“Poor guy”, we kept saying. “Poor guy.” After a minute of silence in the car, it hit me. Trying not to cry, I said, “Poor us.”

Both of us had iPhones in our pockets. We just moved about $50,000 worth of recording and computer equipment into his new office. I had the fastest MacBook Pro that Apple makes in the back seat. God blessed me and I paid $3500 cash for it. Phil had the same laptop, but with the 17″ screen. This guy was begging for a $20 bus ticket and I had a $35,000 loaded luxury sedan parked at home. I’ve got everything I want, except a giving heart.

Everywhere you look you hear and see the message of buying more. Buy this car. Buy this house. Buy this CD. Buy this movie. Buy. Buy. Buy. Never do you see the message of Giving. Our culture and world is so self centered. I’m ashamed that it took me 5 minutes to decide whether I was going to help this man or not.

I know there is a lot of skeptics, and a lot of people trying to take advantage of the blessed. But at that moment I felt God tell me that He didn’t give me the task to judge or weigh man’s intentions. He told me that when I die, I will be accountable with what I did, not what others did.

I know all sin is the same in the eyes of God. But what is worse, me being selfish and giving Christ a bad name, or that man being dishonest and using the money to buy booze? If I can help it, and if it has to be like that, than I want to pick him getting wasted and forgetting how hard life is for a short time.