Previous | Next 

Do it for God

Evelyn Brant Thompson

A barefooted lad came shivering down the street, hands clenched under his chin. He was fighting the cold of Addis Ababa’s frosty height, and his meagre loincloth covered little. The thin body carried an anxious face under a halo of dishevelment. Was he really one of the thousands of urchins who needed a few cents to quell the constant gnawing of an empty stomach? Or was he one of those who were sent out to beg as a way of gain? If the former, I wanted to substantially help this child. Instead of a few cents dropped into his quivering, cupped hand, I would see that he received a good deal more.

Close to me on the other side of the street stood a well-dressed young man, obviously one of Emperor Haile Selassie’s students returned from a stint of study abroad. He was leaning against a stone building, in the ease which he was fortunate enough to enjoy as a privileged son of Ethiopia.

With my eye on the approaching child, I stepped over to the young man and in the Ethiopian language said, “Do you think this case is for real, or do you think it is a hoax to gain money for someone else? If he is truly in need, I would really like to help him.”

The young man trained his eyes on the nearing, naked lad. “If you don’t do it for him,” he said, “do it for God!”

What a rebuke! Many Ethiopian beggars beg in the name of the Virgin Mary or St. George, or even in the name of Christos – and the coins nonchalantly tossed to them by passersby are for show or to gain merit from the same saint.

In whose name was I giving to this little stranger? And why did I have to determine my offering’s earthly destination – if I were giving to God?

Evelyn Brant Thompson served as a missionary in Ethiopia for 30 years. She is a member of Central Heights MB Church in Abbotsford, B.C.

Previous | Next 

Last modified October 9, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
Masthead and usage information.