We’re sitting in the bakkie close to a tower to upload Sunday’s sermon to the cloud. The signal is poor. We’ve been driving around from one tower to the other all day and it’s been frustrating. You get frustrated with yourself, with the internet. Frustrated with anything that may cross your path unexpectedly.

A man walks up to the passenger door. He reels off a long story about his little girl who is going to school and how he has lost his job because of Covid. Well, he has actually lost everything.

He says he is educated and that his father had been a missionary. I wonder if he had seen the cross on the bakkie. He goes on too long for my liking and I continue working on my laptop.

Renata listens attentively and agrees here and there. I get a little bit tired of his story and the money he needs for the safety boots, because then he can get a job, according to the owner of the business around the corner.

I want to go, but I see Renata opens the cubby hole to get her purse. She takes out a few notes. I want to stop her, but she hands them over. You see, I don’t give money. I’ve made this decision because I don’t know if the recipient will spend it wisely.

As he walks off, I look at her, my whole face a question mark. She immediately knows what I’m thinking and asks if I had seen the man praying before he had approached us.

Obviously, I haven’t.

She said she believed him. She understood what he was saying. She knew the Holy Spirit had led her to help him. She was just being faithful to the instruction she had received.

The next morning, we prayed together. She prayed for Caleb. She prayed for his little girl and his wife and that it would go well with his job. She prayed and asked that he would get on his feet again so that he could care for his family again.

²⁷Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

My wife was and is engaged in real religion. One that alleviates people’s need. She sees their plight. She is available to the Spirit to touch her thoughts. But even more than that. She does it. She lives it. She gets into action.

How sad that I wasn’t touched. How sad that I wasn’t sensitive to the working of the Holy Spirit. May He show mercy to me. May He forgive my sin of doing nothing, and next time help me put my faith into action and make a difference in the lives of others.

Scripture
James 1:19-27

Reflection
Are you doing?
Are you listening?
Are you showing?

Prayer
Lord, I must confess I don’t always hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I don’t do. Sometimes I walk past because I’m simply too lazy. Please forgive me. I want to help. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.