Mike Olsen (of “Mike O” blogging fame) posted this story over on the eBay atheist blog this morning (he’s one of the guys who run that site).  I got to meet Mike and the lovely Mrs. O at the CEC in Minneapolis this past weekend.  Apparently Mike attended my Doable Evangelism workshop there and decided to give the OA concepts a whirl.  Way to go, Mike O, way to go.  

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” Matthew 10:42

One of the underlying principles of Off The Map is the idea that in todays world, nobody pays attention to anyone else. There are people out there that just need someone to notice them. They crave attention, and when you actually pay attention, it’s the same thing as giving a cup of cold water in Jesus’ day.

Yesterday I was in downtown Minneapolis on a job interview, and walking from my car to the interview I saw a man sitting on a bench dressed in fatigues and holding a sign that said something to this effect:

Homeless veteran needs money to get home. No drugs. No alcohol. Can you spare some change? God bless you.

I’m not from the city so I’m not accustomed to seeing that sort of thing. And besides, I had somewhere to be. I passed him, then stopped and checked my wallet – all I had was three $20’s which I needed. So I told him I couldn’t help and walked on.

Then I remembered I had a bunch of change back in my car. I was about 20 minutes early for the interview, and I was ready for it, so I went back (about one city block), got all the change from my car and gave it to him. I asked him where “home” was and he said “St. Louis.” Then I left.

After the interview, about an hour later, he was still there. So I sat down. I asked him again where “home” is, and he said “St. Louis” again (so maybe it’s actually true?). He seemed a bit paranoid that someone was actually talking to him. I asked him if he was in Iraq, and he was. I asked him how he got to Minneapolis, and he told me he was staying here with his aunt until she passed away about a month ago. I said I was sorry. I asked him how much he needed and how long it would take to get the bus ticket. He said he needed $55 and it would probably take him a couple of days to come up with that much.

I asked him what he was going to do once he got to St. Louis and he said he has a buddy there that he can stay with. I noticed that as we talked, he started to let his guard down just a little bit – his answers were getting longer and he was talking more freely.

I had to leave, so I told him I hoped people would be nice to him and that he would get to St. Louis OK, and that I would pray for him this morning, which I did. He said “Thanks,” and I left.

As I walked away, I remembered I forgot to ask one thing.

“What’s your name?”

“Carl”

I don’t know if it was like “a cup of cold water” to him or not – I hope it was. But I do know that it felt like “giving a cup of cold water” to me. It felt really good to pay attention to someone else for 5 minutes.