I received this story from my nephew, Chris, who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. I immediately knew I would publish it here on my Substack. The message aligns with the theme of regina’s telltales. I will continue to post faith-based stories to remind us of God’s signs and whispers.
My two boys, Nick, who is fourteen, Christian Jr., who is twelve, and I went to a Chick-fil-A near Cactus Road and Tatum Boulevard in Northern Phoenix, Arizona. As we were waiting in the drive-through line, Nick was chatting with me about how bad he felt for homeless people in this record heat and how tough it must be. I explained to him that it was very difficult, and many have died from the continuous, unrelenting heat exposure.
The Chick-fil-A guy took our order. After we placed out order, we rounded the drive-through and waited our turn. Directly across from us on Tatum Boulevard was an old man with a shopping cart. He had long, gray hair past his shoulders and arms, and he must have weighed no more than 140 pounds. He was organizing his things on the ground to take to the east side of the building as the sun was angling on the west. He had lots of what appeared to be garbage. At first, we thought he and his cart had both fallen over, due to the scattered stuff until we realized he was unpacking for shade time. Nick immediately said, “Dad, let’s buy him a vanilla milkshake. We can buy it when we get to the drive-through window.” I told him about a recent Wall Street Journal article that pointed out how many homeless people are mentally ill and how sometimes that results in others getting seriously hurt and that we, as a society, need better programs to help the homeless, mentally ill as well as protect others. I was setting him up for a “no,” due to my perceived risk.
Nick pressed and pressed. I looked at his young face, and I looked at the man across from our Chick-fil-A drive-through and said, “no, Nick, we can help by giving to the organizations that are reaching out to the homeless…let them put our resources to best use to help as many as they can. They know how best to help.” Nick then said, “Dad, it’s a milkshake!”
We pulled up to the window and Nick continued, “Dad, I’ll buy it with my own money. Come on, Dad!” I wanted to help the homeless, but I didn’t want to put Nick in a position that I wasn’t certain of. I rolled down my driver’s side window to accept our order and the Chick-fil-A lady literally handed me an ice cream cone upside down in a good-sized cup full of vanilla ice cream and asked if we wanted a free ice cream. She was already handing it to me. It really wasn’t a question at all. I thought about Chick-fil-A being a Christian company, but Nick and I looked at each other knowing there was no way anyone heard us because we were far from the intercom with the windows up and the air conditioning going full blast.
We immediately knew what to do. We said, “YES!”
We grabbed our food and this vanilla “sundae-looking” thing and drove right across the street to the homeless man. The boys stayed in the car. I brought the man the free ice-cream given to us, and I supplemented it with ten dollars. I told him the ice cream was from Chick-fil-A right over there. He lifted both his hands up and spoke in the nicest, softest voice to say yes he would like it and thanked me - just a sweet old man, gentle.
God intervened that day. Nick, Christian, and I discussed this obvious intervention. As I struggled to help, and as Nick was fighting to buy this man a milkshake with his own money and all of it overridden by my fear of putting my kids potentially in harm’s way, God led. God provided.
I told the man that God was with him because I really thought he was. God used us in a small way that day to help this man, but God also helped me and my boys not to make the wrong decision and to trust in Him.
I am touched by Nick’s kindness. I like that he persisted even when his father reasoned with him that it may not be a good idea. I also understand a father’s desire to protect his children. Both of them had good intentions. It is easier to make the right choice when it is clear between good and bad, but when it is a choice between good and good, it gets fuzzy. God stepped in and it became a matter of saying, “YES” with the courage to do the right thing.
On a personal note, I know that my departed sister, Elaine, would find joy in how wonderful a parent is her son, Chris, and how he is passing on the virtues of Christian living.
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I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story and it was reminiscent of my mom always telling me that you should be kind to everyone , because you never know when Jesus is going to come back and in what form. Thanks for sharing the light as always.
What a great story! God definitely intervened that day. Elaine is absolutely proud of her Son& grandson