Early on Monday morning, I passed a car parked in a back laneway with a person sleeping in it. Immediately I felt convicted to help this person, and I prayed that I would have the chance to do so and wouldn’t shirk the opportunity. Coming back from my walk, the car was still there, with the fellow still asleep.

At home, I wrote a quick, friendly note, inviting the person to our house for a shower and/or breakfast. I walked up the laneway to the car and stuck it on his windscreen.

I checked several times during the morning, and the car was still there, but no one came by, so I thought the fellow was sleeping late. When he didn’t come by at all, I soon forgot about him.

On Monday morning, while at work, David’s apprentice Trent received a phone call saying that his dad had died. Trent dissolved in grief, and David sent him home in a taxi before finishing the job alone.

On Wednesday, David rang around trying to find a worker for Thursday. He had a large concreting job planned and couldn’t do it on his own. When he became desperate, I even offered to look for a babysitter so I could lend him a (small, weak) hand. In the end, David was resigned to working alone.

Around teatime on Wednesday, there was a knock at the door. I opened the door to see a woman. She was the person I had seen sleeping in the car, and she just wanted to say that she was grateful for my offer of assistance.

When I pressed her with offers of hospitality, she replied that she was okay for meals and showers, and she just needed somewhere safe to park her car while sleeping in it. I offered to let her park it in front of our garage.

Julie said that she was currently looking for work, probably labouring work, anything working outside, as she had been a nursery hand for several years before the water restrictions put the nursery out of business and she lost her job.

When David heard that she was looking for work, he asked if she would labour with him on Thursday, which was the large concreting job. She agreed and helped him out tremendously.

Thursday night, Julie moved into our spare room and is using it as a base to look for work. David has shared with her our reasons for our hospitality (i.e. from Matthew 25) and will continue to offer her labouring jobs when he has the work.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

We praise our God because he met David’s need for a labourer when we showed obedience to Him by stepping out in faith!