When I leave work at night, I expect to meet at least one person looking for money. Most of us are. In a majority of cases we wouldn’t turn down free money, but we except that we will probably have to earn it. I’m not making a blanket statement here. There are some folks who really need help, and therein is my dilemma, especially considering that my Lord told me “give to him who asks of you.” (Matt 5:42) Instead, I do what I did last night. I don’t even know for sure that is what he wanted. Maybe he was genuinely concerned that I needed some help, but when he spoke to me, I brushed him off and kept moving. There was a train conveniently sitting at the station and I hurried to get into it. No matter that it was the wrong train. It got me out of there. I know all the excuses. I have already hinted at one. It is true that many of the people on the street are there because they will not do what it takes to get out. We have programs and shelters all over the area. We shouldn’t be enablers, right? We shouldn’t make the problem worse for everyone, not to mention encouraging them to break the city’s panhandling law. Yet, there are people truly in need, and what of the sanctioned methods for helping them out. There’s usually someone on the corner selling a newspaper written by the homeless. Why don’t I buy the paper, even though I can’t read it and probably wouldn’t want to if I could. Shouldn’t I encourage the work ethic implied? “Give to him who asks of you.” Who am I to judge? Maybe I should just do what Jesus said.