It was a test—an experiment. What would he do with $100? The man was standing on the median of a busy intersection holding a small cardboard sign—“HOMELESS please help” scratched out with a black marker. Life is all about impact and a lesson was about to unfold.
What do you do when you see someone holding a sign asking for help? I’ve driven by men, woman and children holding these signs. Haven’t we all wondered if they are really homeless and hungry. What do they do with the money? I don’t want to be cynical, but I’ve handed out care packages and drove by the next day to find laying on the ground or in the bushes and seen young boys being trained by their father to panhandle. Cynicism can cripple impact.
A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.
—Jackie Robinson
Life is all about impact—positively changing lives and running races that matter. And I am not the only one who is cynical. What would he do with $100? A young man walks over to this man holding the sign and gives him five $20 bills. With the money in hand, the man leaves his spot—today’s work done? Curiously the young man follows the man and films him. As the man walks into a liquor store, the young man says, “I knew it” thinking the man was going to spend the money to get drunk.
The man walks out of the store and swings an obviously heavy bag over his shoulder. They continue to follow him to a park where he walks over to a group of people seated at a picnic table. He puts his bag on the table reaches in and pulls out (not liquor) food and begins sharing it with the homeless people in the park. He used the gift of $100 for impact.
Impact is pouring your heart and soul into loving and leading people who are desperate for your love and care.
Who would have thought a homeless man, standing on a corner could so magnificently impact the other peoples lives with only $100. The young man who began this experiment is blown away. He approaches the man and tells him they were doing an experiment. He asks the homeless man, “Do you even know these people?” “No…there are things money can’t buy.”
The race of life is all about impact. Picking, running and breaking the tape in races that positively change lives. Who will miss the best of you if you choose not to run the courageous races standing in front of you?
Today you will be presented with opportunities for meaning and lasting impact. The scale may not be grand. It may be as simple as a moment of your time, a warm smile or a word of encouragement. Impact does not come with an invitation—we seize it by choosing it.