“YOU SEE LAH!”
Sweat dripped from his dark, crinkled face as he snarled at me.
I’d slid past him into the convenient store. But he swerved, and his tower of crates of mineral water bottles tumbled all over the floor.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“URRGH!” His red eyes seared into mine.
Incensed, he puffed his chest at me— his hands saying, “YOUR FAULT!”
My face flushed red. Shaken, I hurried up the escalator. But the Holy Spirit’s compassion overwhelmed me- I felt his frustration trudging through a thankless job, day after day.
“Love has a face,” I heard God whisper. In the middle of a busy road, tears welled up as I remembered Grandpa Zhou, an elderly crippled busker I’d met 14 years ago at the dirty steps of a train station. God had told me the exact thing then when He told me to stop for him, to buy him dinner- even as he cursed me.
Over a year, his heart softened. On his first visit to my church, he was the first to run, hobbling, up to the altar to receive Christ. Cliff and I baptized him in our bathtub. He performed at our wedding.
Last month, Grandpa Zhou passed away. He had no wake.
But on that busy street as I reeled from the man’s scolding, I felt Grandpa Zhou’s presence. I saw him playing his harmonica, free in heaven, asking me, “Can you do for him what you did for me?”
I turned back to buy the man a drink.
He shook his head violently,“NO!”
“I just want to bless you.”
A wide smile, white like coconut, broke out across his dark face. He put his hand to his chest, a gesture of love well received.
Matt 25:40 came to mind, “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “
When Grandpa Zhou suddenly died, I never got to say goodbye. But there on that busy street, I finally grieved. Tears streamed down my face as I sensed him beaming at me, hearing what he used to tell me, “你真的很很有心. You got heart.”
I’m grateful, that whenever I see someone in need now, I can honor Grandpa Zhou. Because he taught me, love has a face. And it looks like his.
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” – Rom 12:21