Many years ago, I made a business trip to Atlanta, Georgia. Because I wanted to meet with a former business associate who lived there, I went early, arriving on Saturday.

On Sunday morning I wanted to attend worship at a downtown church and decided to walk from the hotel, not realizing the jaunt would take me through a poor neighborhood. A middle-aged man wearing a red plaid shirt and worn blue jeans was sitting on a low brick wall. There was a paper plate with a few bones on it next to him there. As I approached him, he rose from his spot and held out his hand, asking me for help. I walked by, and our hands touched as his was raised in supplication and mine reached back in dismissal. “I can’t help you”, I said.

The conviction was sudden and overwhelming; like the Pharisee, I had walked by without offering aid. And on my way to church yet! A little further on, I spied a Burger King. Dashing inside, I ordered the biggest Whopper they made, and a large coffee laden with cream and sugar.

Hurrying now back to the spot where I’d seen the plaid-shirted man, I saw another man seated around the corner. He looked bad. It was clear he’d been in a fight, and it appeared he’d not been the victor in that contest. Foolishly, I asked if he’d seen the man with the plaid shirt. He replied that the man had left the area. I held up the Burger King bag saying that I’d brought it for the first man. “I’ll eat it!”, said the second man. Of course! This guy was in much worse shape than the first man had been. I handed him the bag, turned, and continued my journey to the big downtown church.

I am grateful that God gave me a second chance to do the right thing that day.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James 2:14-17 (ESV)