Meet Mary.

She is a 60-something lovely woman.

She lives in a hotel down the road from Soul City Church.

She has 4 children: 3 scattered around Chicago, and 1 in Florida.

She works outside Union Station selling magazines and newspapers.

She also loves to sit in Dominick's and wonder about people.

We expected a conversation, and maybe a story, and definitely to give a few dollars...

but what we didn't expect was to receive wisdom, insight, and love from a complete stranger.

Our conversation was prompted by SCC's 2 dollar challenge. (Who knew going to church could involve receiving money...?!) The service concluded with a charge to "shuffle around God's money," to come to a greater understanding of what it means to live outside of ourselves in a world so focused on Getting and Me.

So, there we were... restless minds, but hopeful hearts.  Three of us, given $2 each, and no clue where to go or how to use it. So, we stood mid-Dominick's Aisle 3, lost in endless dreams rooted in no reality with where to spend this money.  After reading and re-reading the list of options on the SCC flyer, it appeared a very time-convenient option to buy some stuff for a ministry, leave the grocery, and be on our way.

But, no. We were stopped in our tracks. It was clear : there was something Bigger here. 

A fellow 2-buck SCC challenger with a brimming spirit and mutual zero-clue-where-to-use-it look approached us with the familiar "What do we do now...?"  He held up the bright green SCC flyer as if to offer an immediate point of bonding: we were now in this together.  Pooling our resources, and a simple prayer - God, where? our new friend Eric and his wife, Rachel, (+baby) led us to someone they had spotted around the corner.

And there she was. Working lotto numbers. Mary.

How do you start a conversation with a random stranger? 

(We're so polite sometimes - we don't want to interrupt.) 

If only we believed that people really are looking for people to talk to.

After moments of engaging Mary via some chatter about lottos (I happen to know Nothing about the lotto...), I decided to just dig right in - reveal my heart behind the night's challenge, and see what happened.  My stammering words were met by a blank stare. My thoughts wavered on the edge of - either she'll cuss me out or she's mute. I also sat in silence.  

Then a reply completely unexpected: "I work these numbers to receive a miracle. But now I realize the miracle isn't always in the numbers."

Boom. Door = opened. The conversation spiraled into anything & everything - how can God love you when you do foolish things?  There are so many religions - is He really it? He promises life - what if we don't feel life? How do I become more myself - the way He's created me to be? What is my purpose? And does he really love us when we don't go to church? 

Lindsay, Jordan, and I didn't always know how to respond... but we also knew that it wasn't about us.

Without prodding for information, or asking too many questions - Mary readily revealed the deep places in her heart.  The places she's bottled up her whole life with lack of an outlet for a voice.  Sitting in Dominick's, we listened as she told us that the grocery is her entertainment - how she loves to watch families and couples and love and laughter take place in the store.  That she feels love through their love - and that's enough.  We watched as she struggled with the answers to her own questions, and searched for meaning and clarity. Her eyes filled with tears as she heard simple truths -
God loves you, Mary. He has big plans for your life. You were created for a reason and a purpose. To Him, you.are.perfect.

Although foreign words to her, "deep calls to deep" (Psalm 42:7), and something in her spirit shifted.
4 of us together in Dominick's - different seasons of life, and yet so similar in the search for identity and purpose - our souls knit together in the moment.


What we don't realize as we walk these busy Chicago streets with our schedules floating through our minds, thoughts circling around our day, and our ipod running through our ears - is that people are looking to be heard when they have an avenue in which to talk. And His presence is in this city - in every conversation, in every smile, in every penny. See - a world of opportunity can be opened with even the smallest dollar. Because it's not about the money... it's about the opportunity money presents.  To view money as a tool to open doors into others' lives, to invest and bless others, is something I'm training my mind to believe.  Money is an invitation to conversation... when you choose to allow it to be.

(*Disclaimer: I realize conversation can happen w/ strangers with or without money. Money isn't the token. But I do believe He uses money for His glory - to bless others and as an entry into a piece of their story.)

Hearts and lives can be changed in an instant. 

Who knew it would take $2 to believe it.