Hey Jesus, wanna pie?

I roped my Beloved and a couple of friends into the Kids' Talk at church today. He might have been blindfolded with a squished banana smeared across his face but that was fundamental in drawing out the deep meaning of my spiel about following Jesus, who always sets us a good example.  On the way home from church we swung into the fish 'n' chip shop to pick up some lunch. Some builders are doing blokey-type things at the back of our house this weekend and the local chippie is God's modern day answer to feeding the 5,000 - which equates to the feeding of three hungry builders in addition to our own hungry mouths. One feels very holy coming home from church and stopping off to shout lunch for a few extras. Just like Jesus.

Coming out of the takeaway I was fishing in my wallet for some cash to buy some bread when I felt a presence looming across my path. I think I picked up his "scent" before I saw him.  Sometimes South Auckland can seem more like Bangladesh with all the beggars we get outside our shops. Crap!  This big, hairy, smelly thug was about to ask me for money. I was coming home from church for goodness sake. Can't you just leave me to be a nice Christian in peace? He only wanted a dollar; he saw my pink wallet; he saw the greeny that I had just extracted from that wallet.  I avoided eye contact. "Errrrmmm...sorry, I don't have any change." No way was I giving my hard-earned cash to some loser for booze and smokes. How far does a dollar go anyway?  So instead of following Jesus I dashed into the sanctuary of the corner dairy and hid behind the chip stand.  I think God must have followed me in because I'm sure I heard the following conversation take place in my head:

Inner Voice: "Buy a pie."
Me: "What for? I can't eat pies!"
Inner Voice: "I need you to buy a pie."
Me: "But I've just bought chips and I've already told you, I can't eat the pie."
Inner Voice (at this point I think He was rolling his eyes because I was a bit slow in getting the point): "It's not for you. It's for me."
Me: "How am I supposed to give you a pie?"
Inner Voice: "...I was hungry and you gave me something to eat...whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me...and while you're at it, buy two"

I had only seen ONE guy out there so I bought just ONE steak and cheese pie.  I hastily pushed it into Smelly's hand on my way back to the chippie. That's when his friend stepped out from Pizza Hutt's doorway.  I didn't need any Inner Voice to tell me to get back to that pie warmer and finish the job.

It may have cost more than if I'd just handed over the buck but I think my money went to a good cause.

The builders appreciated their fish and chips too.