A Cool Moment

Today I made a run with my sons to QuikTrip (a local convenience store) and we went in for a drink (the boys got fountain pops and I got a bottled water). Well, as usual, the boys were taking their time and I had already gotten my drink, so I told them I'd be in the van.

We were parked right in front of the store, so I could easily see them and what was going on inside. But something outside caught my attention. A man that had one shoe on with ripped pants at the ankles and a bright yellow shirt walked in front of me.

He was carrying a bag that he set down and a trash bag that he had filled with pop cans and bottles. He stopped directly in front of my van and opened the lid to the trash can and took out two more pop bottles to add to his collection. When he closed the lid, he looked over at me and we made eye contact...me sitting in air conditioning in a nice van, and him on the outside, dirty and hot.

I looked away nervously. He walked into the store.

My boys were still inside fiddling with their sodas. And I noticed his bag he had left resting against the wall outside of the building. I got an idea and stepped out of my van.

I walked over to his bag, took out my wallet and left some cash inside of it.

Then my boys came out. I moved the van from where we were parked in front of the building to a distance away where we could still see his bag clearly. I told them what I did.

We waited, watching for the dirty man with the bright yellow shirt to come out of QuikTrip. When he did, we were hoping he would look in his bag. He did.

He pulled out the cash and then looked around. We looked away so that he wouldn't notice us.

Jacob, my youngest, yelled, "AWESOME!" And we drove off. It was a cool moment. He never knew we did it...he never knew who did it. But we did and God did. And that was cool.