An hour and a half of traffic, and still another hour lay ahead of me. I was hungry, it was getting late, and my car was running out of gas, so I decided to turn off the freeway for a short reprieve. After I filled up my gas tank, I noticed a scruffy gentleman in worn clothes sitting nearby. I offered to buy him food. As we purchased some burritos, the gentleman, whose name was David, told me he was in the middle of helping two of his friends who were also homeless. He introduced me to them, a woman and her boyfriend, and then proceeded to give them the burritos. Before I left, I asked if I could pray for them, and David said that April needed a ride to a bus station about 15 minutes away.

While we prayed, I debated whether to offer her a ride. Aside from thoughts of my safety, I was already running late, the station was out of my way, and the heavy traffic would double the normal drive time. But I was convicted by Isaiah 58:7, “Is this not the fast that I have chosen…Is it not to share your bread with the hungry…When you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?” I offered to take April to the station

As we drove, I struck up a conversation to see what I could find out about her. I learned that she had grown up in the Adventist church near where I went to school. She went into Pathfinders and even used to attend the church where I had done a summer of canvassing. However, she eventually stopped going to church. Now she was in a difficult divorce, and her husband had put her out on the streets. Before she ran off to catch her bus, I told her I didn’t think it had been a coincidence that we had met. I gave her a book and encouraged her to visit a church when she was able.

Meeting April was a learning experience and a rebuke for me. How many others have slipped out of church pews and out of our thoughts? How many of those who are often overlooked on the streets used to be in Sabbath School class and Pathfinders? Normally, if I knew a church member was in such a situation, I wouldn’t have debated whether or not to help. It is easy for me to view a church member as my own flesh in the body of Christ. But isn’t every person connected to me in the web of humanity? May we all seek after the fast God has chosen, to share the bread of salvation to those who are hungry, to help clothe the naked in the robes of Christ’s righteousness, and not to turn the other direction and hide ourselves from our own flesh.

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