I knew that as a large team ministering in Ethiopia we could not give money to beggars on the streets. The wisdom in that was if others saw they would come and soon we would be overwhelmed by a mob of people, or the one accepting the money could be in danger of being robbed or worse. We were given these guidelines as protection for ourselves as well as those asking for money. Being my fourth time in Ethiopia, this was something I already knew.

But there has to be more to give than just money. I knew eternity was on offer. But how could I express that within the minutes it takes for a light to go from red to green or a short stop at the market to stock up again on bottled water?

Those are the times when you come face-to-face with people. Sometimes the glass of a car window keeps you from that but with the intense heat of the Addis Ababa sun, few find that a problem. So I found myself asking, “What more?"

In the past I have felt ashamed when a beggar has asked for money and found that turning my head away was the easiest thing to do. The Lord convicted me at the beginning of this trip and from then on I made the effort to look directly into the eyes of everyone who came to my window, to not lose eye contact with them until the car moved on.

And so our journey began.

On a previous outreach to Hungary I was impressed by the Lord to keep eye contact with a certain homeless lady. I was leading worship on the streets with my brother, Matt, and until the end of that set my eyes didn't lose hers. She was obviously intoxicated with alcohol and it seemed that her mind was not all there.

At first she was a bit put off.  Then she mocked me. And then a tear. One tear fell down her cheek followed my many others. The Spirit of God was moving her and I got to be His instrument that day.

In Ethiopia I remembered this and was excited to see what the Lord would do through the simple gaze. One day I was traveling in a car with a few people; we came to a traffic light and a lady came to my window. I locked eyes with hers and she pleaded with her eyes for money. Her hand came up and down, touching her mouth then her stomach while she repeated, “No food, hungry."

I continued staring into her eyes remembering that giving her money was not an option. She continued to beg and in her face I could see she was beginning to get aggravated. Compassion welled up in my heart for her. I knew God had spoken to me, so not losing eye contact I said out loud a prayer for this lady to be filled with the joy of the Lord.

Not moments after, she put her hand over her mouth and then took it off. I could see she was trying to hide the fact that she was smiling. That smile moved to a laugh. The light turned green and we began moving again. As I looked back through the intersection I could see she was bent over laughing. We rejoiced in the car and I knew that God inside of me had touched this lady by a simple gaze.

Kes