What Would You Do?

 

 

It was a beautiful day at the zoo. A memory making, sunshine filled, smile inducing kind of day. I sat relaxing in the shade as the kids climbed on the giant tree themed playground. Parents sat all around in nearby chairs. So many families were enjoying the day that some stood around due to the lack of places to sit. Two families standing in front of the tree caught my eye. One woman commented to another, “I think she’s lost.” The other turned from packing a stroller and looked up, “Yes, I think she is.” “That’s great”, I thought. “Just look at those safety conscious moms.”

What happened next shocked me. I felt like I had just become part of a scene in the “What Would You Do?” tv show. A show in which people are tested with different scenarios to see if people will chose to do the right thing. My eyes searched for the child. There she was. She was probably five. I expected the two women to take her hand and help her. I saw something quite different. The women gathered their children and left. They did nothing to help this lost child. NOTHING.

My attention turned to the little girl. She didn’t look distraught. No tears were on her face. She began to wonder her way into the building attached to the playground. That’s when I knew she was lost. I sat stunned. I still could not believe those people had done nothing. A few moments later, it finally hit me. I felt like I’d just been punched in the stomach. A sick feeling crept into my body. I did nothing. I could have taken that child by the hand and helped her. I let her walk right into a potentially dangerous situation. She needed help. I didn’t give it.

I kept waiting for the “What Would You Do?” guy to step in at this point. The guy who brings a microphone and tells you, “It’s okay none of this was real.” He never came. Someone did come. The child’s parents. They walked out of the building and called their children. One came. Another came, but the third was no where to be seen. The parents looked at each other and quickly went in the building to find their child. I still couldn’t get over it. I began to pray for the parents. Can I tell you it felt like way too little way too late? I could have stepped in. I didn’t.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

Sometimes that’s all we have to make a difference.

The Blink of  an eye.  

That’s why I need God. I can’t be trusted to chose right as a reflex. I just can’t. I’m a lost child, too. I’m lost without God. I’m lost without his love in my life. I can’t bridge the giant chasm between me and my creator. All I can really do is take the dive. I can jump off the cliff that separates me from him and be caught by the net of his mercy and grace. That’s the kind of love to get all tangled up in.  The kind of love that makes you want to be so close to the one who saved you that you don’t really know where He ends and you begin. The kind that speaks to my heart, hears my soul, yet still loves me more than I’ll ever deserve. That’s the kind of love everyone needs. Why would I want to keep that to myself? Why would I choose to see a lost child and not step in?

Someone needs to hear why I hope, why I love, why I live now. I want to have a reflex reaction with the lost. I want them to be found. The time is short, I may only have the blink of an eye.

I don’t know what happened to that child. (Just a moment after the child went in the building, her parents stepped out. They quickly went in to find her. I didn’t see the reunion.)

I do know what will happen to the person who doesn’t know Jesus. No happy reunion. Forever separated from God. Just like this little girl, a lost person doesn’t always look lost. She is the woman next to you in line or the mom you just met in PTA. He’s the guy sitting next to you at the football game. He may have the biggest heart. She may be the best mom. That doesn’t make them any less lost. He needs you. She needs you. Hold out your hand. Lead them to the most loving Father they will ever know. Lead them home. You could change a life forever in the blink of an eye.

 

 

Advertisement

---