"Mom? Can we get him some food?"

"Mom? Can we get him some food?"

I have to be honest. My first thought was "Oh yeah. Spence can read now." That meant he had seen the guy sitting by the mall entrance with the handwritten sheet of paper that said, "Hungry. Please help."

I, too, had seen the sign. But, the guy looked well fed. And, I had a thousand errands to do - with two kids who were slowly losing patience.

But, I answered, "Of course we can."

I pulled into the Fazoli's drive-thru. I ordered a sandwich and a Coke. I was still having every cynical thought possible:

"That guy doesn't want food. It's just a scam to get people to give him money."

"I've heard of people who just throw away the food people bring them because they just want cash."

"He probably won't even be there when we get back."

But, I kept my mouth shut. I don't want to ruin Spencer's innocent view of the world. I don't want him to learn, just yet, that sometimes people don't tell the truth. And, anyway, Spence was concerned with how slow the drive-thru was being. And, he kept asking me where the guy was. And, where was the mall entrance because he couldn't see it.

We got the food. We headed back toward the mall. As we turned toward the entrance, I saw the guy get up from his spot and cross into the Dairy Queen parking lot. I pulled up to him with my car, rolled down the window, held out the food, smiled and said, "We got you this."

It's then, when he began to speak, that I realized he was mentally challenged. He said, "Oh, wow. Thanks." He held out a wad of what looked like one dollar bills to me and said cheerfully, "A guy just gave me this. Do you want it?"

I told him to keep it for later. I told him to have a great day.

We pulled away and I could only say, "Spencer. I am so proud of you," before I choked up. Later, I told him, "That's exactly the way God wants us to treat each other. You made God so happy today."

"Let the little children come to me," indeed.

There is more Christ-like love in one little child's heart than all of we world-weary adults combined.