The homeless man- A testimony of a selfish christian

I posted this in the bible discussion room in a thread but I thought I'd share it as a testimony.....
I'll tell you what happened to me the other day. I have been rather selfish lately complaining about where I am living.

Basically last year me and my husband were living in Australia in the city with rough accommodation and it was particularly scary , the neighbours were under the influence of drugs and they were very violent.

Now back in the UK me and my husband have been travelling the country all year with his job, and I have done nothing but COMPLAIN about how unhappy I am moving around being unsettled. All year we have had very comfortable accommodation in rural areas where it is safe ( a major contrast to the year before)

Yet I complain about how lonely I am following my husband with his work as I can't work because we move every 6 weeks.

So 2 days ago I was in the city centre complaining to my husband and I prayed in my head to get me out of this state and instantly this homeless man came up to me, I was shocked and didn't know how to react as he asked for £2.50 for one nights accommodation in a homeless shelter ...I looked in my purse to find an array of £20 notes and one five pound note.

What did I do? I gave him the £5 ( yeah exactly not very good)

This is what I should have done

I should have said. Hey I don't have change, but you must be hungry, lets go to a store and you can choose whatever you want, then after buying him food I give him at least a £20 anyway. I should have spoken to him and heard his story and show interest and be christian.

Needless to say that mere £5 was the world to him as he hopped, skipped and jumped away in delight knowing he had 2 nights shelter. So there's me complaining about my luxurious accommodation in a rural area ( yes lonely but) this guy has to sleep on the streets, he lived for the day grateful knowing he had 2 nights accommodation and probably thought, I'll worry about the accommodation in 2 days.

So thank you God for slapping me in the face that day and making me realise how selfish I was !

I wish I did more though if you read this, please pray for me to forgive myself as i'm terrible at bearing grudges on myself lol .......

Maybe this was a case of it not being about what you did, but what you learned. Perhaps God has other plans for that man, or even perhaps that was an angel. Don't let regret cloud your choice here. You got what God wanted you to learn, be content with that.

Thanks, indeed I am content but blessed that God taught me a lesson and wanted to share thanks for responding

Thanks for sharing, its something i often think about when i hear people complaining. Or even myself sometimes. Its amazing how difficult it can be to feel thankful.

a song by a Christian goth-rock outfit:

that's the way it all unfolds
to welcome strangers from the cold
let the King say
you've welcomed Him

that's the way it all unfolds
story's clear; the Master told
'to love the least of these
is loving Me'

Il Modo Che Tutto Si Svela (The Way It All Unfolds) | Leper

This happened to me a few years ago, an older man stopped me outside the local craft store where I had just bought some new toy to play with my new supplies I'd gotten for christmas. Well, he asked if I had change, I didn't as I had just spent that money on this new gadget. It was literally less than a week later this thing broke, angry and upset I took it back to get my money back! Counting it all to make sure I had the exact amount I still remember $104.92 for that hunk of junk! I spotted this same man in the snow eating some cold raw hotdog, I felt so so so horrible remembering him. I ducked inside the Panera bread and got him a hot cocoa and told him I had that change he asked for the week before. Handed him the money and cocoa told him to be careful and started walking home

BUT...BUT!! this man saw ME walking ran up and gave me the $2 I needed for the bus to get back home!

I believe this person you ran into very well could be an angel, or perhaps, like I did, you'll be lucky enough to run into them again. Pray for the person to be safe either way

Ecclesiastes 11
4 Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
5 As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body is formed[a] in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the Maker of all things.
6 Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
whether this or that,
or whether both will do equally well.
Remember Your Creator While Young


7 Light is sweet,
and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.
8 However many years anyone may live,
let them enjoy them all.
But let them remember the days of darkness,
for there will be many.
Everything to come is meaningless.
9 You who are young, be happy while you are young,
and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
God will bring you into judgment.
10 So then, banish anxiety from your heart
and cast off the troubles of your body,
for youth and vigor are meaningless.


If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done...

Be happy you didn't completely stuge that man... But take in to consideration that you should maybe do more next time...
Just because we got a problem wrong on our homework does not mean we fail our test...

Sister Kreaton! What the Lord has done to you,is to always consider this verse! 1 thess 5:18) I went from making 50 thousand dollars a year on my job, to being homeless for almost 3 years.It was all my fault! I complained all the time to!! hehe The first year and a half i blamed everyone for my situation,it was easy sis!!I was used to that!

i was a believer to!Ah but not a true one,I was only a Sunday one! You know repent from the rest of the week,and then do the same for 6 days again? I will make this as short as I can sis! About the second year of homeless i found myself in Des Monies Iowa at a salvation Army place,for people with drug and drinking problem,i did not have this problem but had to lie to get in.

There the Lord started teaching me! For a long 9 months! Jesus taught me that self was never as important as others,self began to die there for me sis.Holy Spirit( 1 john 2:27) taught me so very much,on not just how to overcome through our Jesus,but also to stay an overcomer through our Jesus! His Word took life in me!DAILY!!

Long story short! I came out of there to a great job,got back on my feet,and now always through our Jesus,i have learned to not only to be thankful to him,but stay that way! You good sister are learning what I did! God is not angry with you sis!!Why he is not even mad at you!Jesus loves you!

All he wants you to do is forgive yourself as he has already forgiven you, so that!! You then can go forgive others and help set them free in Jesus,as you have been!! We all make mistakes sis!! What is different though is that, we the believer learn from them!

Lessons are not always easy,but are always very rewarding!!( heb 11:6) Stay in the Word sis daily!!We cannot do without it!! believe me!! I know! And we cannot do without being and staying thankful for Jesus as well! Why sis, it is God's own will for us each day in our lives!! Jesus says this about us sis.( matt 5:14-16) A city on any hill has no light until Jesus in us brings that light to the city,and we can never go to the city if we cannot find it sis!! So darkness is first removed by Jesus on our inside,so others can see his light from the outside, and join us in seeing the city we walk to. And the city rejoices!!

For light which is not hidden, brings warmth and joy to all who dwell in it! Jesus love is that light sis,and from his love we have peace,and bring to others such peace from his love! ( john 8:31-36!!) Freedom is never hiding his light sis,but rather as we all are learning, freedom is staying in his very love, one for one another!! amen!

So Brighthouse, you are saying that when something bad happens to someone it's always their own fault.

That's what the Pharisees believed to. They told blind people they were blind because of their sin.

Have you considered that sometimes bad things happen to good people who didn't deserve them?

Wow that thought crossed my mind as I was reading too

Brother age, I am talking about becoming accountable to ones own life is all. very true, bad things can happen to good people! But who is good?( luke 18:19) hehe see? What you call good is what you believe at the time about someone else,but we know God knows the heart!( 1 sam 16:7) And sometimes it becomes time for us to examine our own life!( 2 cor 13:5) I judge no one else but me!

SOMETIMES I THINK WE ALL UNDERESTIMATE HOW BLESSED WE REALLY ARE/ RIGHT NOW IM SO THANKFULL TO HEAR YOUR STORIE BECAUSE I TOO NEEDED TO KNOW IT I COULD HAVE IT A LOT WORSE THAN I REALLY HAVE IT? I WAS COMPLAINING ABOUT LINING IN A HOTEL BUT IT COULD BE A LOT WORSE,WHENEVER I FEEL WE HAVE A PROBLEM I ALWAYS REMEMBER ONE OF MY FAVERITE VERSUS IS "IAM AN OVERCOMER BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB[JESUS]AND THE WORD OF MY TESTIMONIE] WE ARE OVERCOMERS!

THAT IS SO BEAUTIFUL....WHOS THAT?

So you are saying that bad things can only happen to bad people because everyone's bad and when something bad happens it's God's divine judgment on their life because they weren't "right"?

See the problem here. You're projecting your own experience on every single person in the entire world. The truth is that bad things happen all the time to righteous people (the Bible certainly does say there are righteous people in the world who live godly lives) who don't deserve it. Consider innocent Christian VICTIMS who live godly lives.

For example, when the night stalker was breaking into people's home and maiming and murdering them here in SoCal, that was God's divine judgment on them because they didn't have their lives right. They should have "examined" themselves so the night stalker wouldn't break into their home.

*rolls eyes*. The truth is that the night stalker did kill and maim some righteous Christian people along with the others. See the problem? What about all the Christians slaughtered last century by the communists in the Soviet Union and China and the fascists in Germany and elsewhere?

If they had "examined" themselves and "got right with God," in your estimation they would have survived. The truth is they were put to death for staying true to God and witnessing the Gospel to others.

Your sense of justice appears to be out of whack imo. I usually see this type of thinking in linear thinkers. They just can't comprehend that something terrible can happen to a righteous person who doesn't deserve it, doesn't bring it on themselves through bad behavior or sin, and without it being God's divine judgment and will upon their life. But it does all over the world every day and it's not God's will nor judgment on His children. In fact, God will judge the perpetuators doing it TO His children.

Wow age, you took my story all of of whack!! LOL Ok let me look to make things more clear to you bro.Many good believers have died for the faith,no question this is true.But each of us truly knows what we deserve brother!! I am speaking only for myself here,not for others, how would i know about others??

You are taking my words about me and looking to apply them to others,brother i am not others.hehe All I am saying is that most people have enough excuses in there own life,for there own life,I just ran out in my life bro! I was tired of thinking it was someone elses fault always and not being accountable for my own life.

Now you can take this any way YOU CHOOSE TO.I cannot do anything about that bro! But you are saying that there are people who do not fit into my life,and you are right!! I do not fit into most peoples! LOL This does not make me better!! It just makes me accountable to the Lord in my own life is all. ( and all I am doing is encouraging others to do the same)

Each of us has to decide for ourselves how accountable we wish to be towards the Lord. Example Look at the story of who most seem to truly love comparing themselves to Job.hehe When things started to go wrong for him, what did he do?( Job 1:21-22) many blame the lord for there problems,when it is not the Lord at all!

A person is believing the Lord for there money situation,but go to the bank to borrow money because they need food,because his family needs to eat.This I did just yesterday! So it is God's fault?LOL Or do I look to find out what I did wrong to get into this position? Well I look.

I thanked the Lord for allowing me to receive the money I needed,but I was greatly disappointed in myself,because my belief is still not where it should be! So now I am praying for instruction from the Lord into why in believing him,i did not receive? It was not the Lord's fault!! I missed it somewhere,so i mature more,and need to grow more is all.

I am forgiven for my lack in belief,but for me brother, i wish to please the Lord more in my life! If I am not willing to become accountable in my own life,how then can I be willing to become instructed in my life??I hope you see this point better. If not, then I sure do not know what to say.thanks

I just wanted to brace you for a minute and see where you were coming from. No problems. I'm glad that you found your way through when so many others haven't even after examining themselves and trying their best. Peace and God bless you.