Several times a week I’d gone to the market, but hadn’t seen Milca. Then I began to get concerned about him. Maybe he was in the hospital, but I didn’t know for sure. I purchased rice, and carried it with me for days preparing for the next time we’d meet. I prayed and asked the Lord to help me meet him. A couple of days later, I saw Milca sleeping under a tree in front of the entrance to the market. I was so happy! I woke him up. Immediately he said, “Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you.” The scent of urine was very strong on him. He, a grown adult, sat there apparently unbothered by the strong odor and the fact that everyone could smell it. A youth made fun of him saying that he had urinated on himself in his sleep. I purchased cooking oil and veggies for him in the market, so that he could cook it with his rice.
Carefully tying the bag in the usual fashion, I looped it over his one hand that was functional. His other hand is very large and nonfunctional. A man came and mocked him saying, “He is just going to sell this food for alcohol.” I gave Milca the food anyway. For the first time, I took deeper notice of his Portuguese. It was pretty good, and he spoke intelligently. He hadn’t always been in this condition, I thought. What had made him so abased that he could urinate on himself, sit in filthy clothes, and show no signs of even caring about it? Later, I thought about all the adults and young men who had been around him that morning. I wondered who was in a more impoverished condition, him or them. Seeing a man in such a condition didn’t move them to action. No one helped him. No one cared or noticed. They walked by him, as though blind to the fact that he was there, a man in need. In fact, I’ve never heard anyone of their own accord say anything nice about Milca. But, Jesus loves him.Another man in a bad condition was in the market. After addressing him respectfully in Portuguese, “Senhor”, and asking if he wanted food, he followed me everywhere. But, he refused every type of food I offered to buy him in the market. Instead, he was asking for some specific food that he wanted. Suddenly, a woman spoke strongly to him. Another told me that his mom sells food in the market, and could give him food. I gently and politely told the man that he should go to his mother and eat, if he didn’t want anything I had to offer him. Some people say that I shouldn't help such people. But, what if we look at it differently? What if that day it wasn’t only about food? What if the Holy Spirit wanted me to offer to buy food for him because He knew the man’s heart would open up to so much more? Through such an action, I could impart the love of God to him that so many refuse to give him (just because he “should” go get free food from his mother). What if, by refusing to help him, everyone excuses themselves from an opportunity to show the love of God, and slowly becoming dull, unknowingly disqualify themselves from being used by the Holy Spirit to powerfully demonstrate God’s love ascribing value and refreshing the heart of this poor man?
Pray for us that we would carry the heart of God, and be greatly filled with the Holy Spirit and faith to serve the people around us. We need grace to be sensitive to those around us. Pray for the poor to open their hearts to the transforming word of God. As we bring the gospel to the many, we will stop for the one. And the King will answer and say...‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ (Matthew 25:40).
Love, Tyren and Tiffany Haynes
