We Are Them....

I just got back from the great city of Leon where I had a lovely dinner and watched a movie (in English) with a few of my friends that are here with me in Nicaragua. The whole night was great except for one thing. As we walked into the theater there was a mother on the side of the street begging as her son lay on a couple of cardboard boxes with his head in her lap. I hadn’t given anything away thus far except for the last few swallows of a Gatorade so I gave her a dollar and continued on feeling only a small pain in my heart for them. I soon forgot about this as I bought some ice cream and entered the theater to watch Dejavu with Denzel Washington. Nearly 2 ½ hours later we walked out of the theater to find the streets deserted…..all except for this boy and his mother. The reality set in as we walked by and I considered giving them 100 cordoba which is 5 days wages for some Nicaraguans but less than lunch at Chick Fil-A for most of us. I didn’t go back to give them this money. Why not? Is $5 going to set me back at all? I sat in the back of our little Toyota Pick-up truck, facing backward as we drove away……all the while watching this pair on the side of the street. It hit me like a freight train. There was no difference between that mother and my mother, that boy and myself. We are equal in His eyes. I no longer saw this lady and this boy. I saw my mother and my head in her lap as I slept on the side of the street. I was all alone in the back of this truck……..and so I allowed myself to weep. God, help us to love the poor and oppressed. You are with them, and I am with you.