Recently Carlton was doing some marketing in Kolkata and several of the vendors kept giving him back too much change. One guy had thought Carlton had given him a thousand rupee note when he gave the wrong change (it was actually only a 500 rupee note.) Carlton merely gave him his proper due back rather than consider himself lucky and the vendor an unlucky fool. Another gave fifty too much, while another twenty and then another ten. Carlton was wondering if God was up to something as this was all happening in one single outing that morning. He just kept giving them back the “extra” change
Then later on that night as Carlton was out on the streets, he saw seven hundred rupees lying in the road, yet no one was in sight he could return it to. He wondered to himself, “What kind of game was God trying to play with me?” Knowing things are very tight for everyone here, someone losing that amount of money was seriously no joke. Carlton himself has the ministry to look after as well as his own family’s needs and finances of late have been very tough here on all. It’s the monsoon season here and people are in desperate need crying out for some sort of relief amidst the flooding. What option did Carlton really have?
He prayerfully thought for a moment and decided to try and bless the unknown loser of this money, yet Carlton himself is in great need and on top of that with all his running in the rains in and out, he had contracted a cold of sorts and was fighting fever to boot and in a weakened state. Still he chose to go out the very next day and buy food and put together packets, and then later that afternoon in the rains, he travelled to one of the parts of Kolkata few wish to even think about let alone visit. It was so unsafe there he could not even leave his motorcycle unattended although it is not in the best of shape having been used and abused for so long, still it was all Carlton had working at the moment and he still needed it, so he took along one of the young men named Glen in our program and together they fed children who hang out underneath the bridges and whatnot in hopes of surviving the rains and prayed God would bless the soul who had lost the much needed funds for their “donation” to these unfortunate ones living on the streets with very little hope.
We thank God for making this moment of ministry possible in the midst of all we are facing over here. We do pray for the person who lost their money as well as the children who were and especially for the many more who were not able to be blessed that day. We thank each and every one of you who by your continued prayers and support make moments like these possible. God Bless you for being an integral part of the Body of Christ in support to make this world a better place here in Asia. We have included some video clippings of the day’s ministry of mercy in motion and ask for continued prayers at this crucial time. Thank you all!
