Would You Touch My Hands?
It was many years ago,we were on a youth trip to Louisville, Kentucky and part of our trip was to go down to the Belvedere on the Ohio River for a nighttime singing. There were probably 40 of us in our group as we traveled on our bus and then got off to go to our location. There was a big festival going on downtown and we were trying to avoid it to get to our destination.
We came upon a man, who…well, looked pretty worn and smelled of alcohol. Needless to say some of my protective instincts kicked in as I watched him approach us. He looked at me and said happily: “Are all of these your kids”? Pam was there beside me. Trying to keep the communication light I answered, “yep, everyone of them”!
What happened next would have scared many and frankly, it did me.
He looked at me and asked this question: “Would you touch my hands”?
Now in a split second a thousand things went through my mind…
Who is this guy?
What’s his plan?
What does he want?
Don’t do anything stupid?
Remember you have 40 people watching you!
I reached out and took both of this mans hands and held them firmly in mine. He looked straight into my eyes and said to me: “because you have touched me, you have shown me that you care”. “I need you to do me a favor”!
Okay here it comes…
I’m thinking,
“I need a few extra dollars”,
“I need a place to stay”
“I need ….fill in the blank”
He reaches in pocket and pulls out 4 one dollar bills. He says to me, “Will you take this money from me? You see, If I keep this money I will spend it on alcohol. I need you to take this, to help me!”
It was the last of his money…4 dollars. He want us to take it. I tried to say no, but he insisted that if I didn’t take it, he would use it to drink.
I accepted the money from him, and asked if we could pray with him. He said, yes. Our group gathered around him and prayed with him. We said our good-byes and left our separate ways.
I will never know this side of heaven what happened to this man, but every time I look in my Bible, I see a few dollar bills given to me by a man that helped me and our group more than I helped him that night.
Thank you God, for letting that man touch my hands that night!
Luke 6:17-19
And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to TOUCH him, for power came out from him and healed them all
May we all seek to touch the Master!
Jerry Elder 