Last week, I had plans to see the play, “Wicked,” with a friend of mine.  I had been wanting to see it forever and so had she.  So when we heard it was coming to Charlotte, we jumped at the chance to go see it.

So I hopped online and got us tickets for a weekday evening show the following week.  We both couldn’t wait!

The night of the play, I picked up my friend up, who was sporting her best taffeta dress and we headed off for the theater.

The theater itself is only about 15-20 minutes away, but we left 45 minutes early, just to make sure we’d have enough time.  We were doing great on time, getting off on the exit for the theater with 30 minutes til showtime.  And then… we came to a complete stop.  Traffic was backed up for miles.  Actually the 2.5 miles to the theater, to be exact.  But we couldn’t get anywhere.

Instead, we just inched along and ate up the entire 30 minutes that we had.  We wondered if all of these cars could possibly be for the show and soon noticed people walking along the side of the highway, trying to sell t-shirts.  Surely, this was not for Wicked.

And then we started to see signs that apparently there was a Tool concert happening at the venue directly next to the theater. Apparently, they were directing that traffic down to a nearby shopping mall and shuttling them back to the venue.  My friend and I were a little miffed that they had scheduled two events like this on the same night side by side, but were just happy to get up to the theater right at 7:25 (the show started at 7:30).

Except then, we noticed police cars were blocking off every possible entrance.  After trying to turn in two different roads (and having no chance to speak to the police officers), we finally approached an officer at the third entrance that we could talk to.  We approached her and rolled down the window to let her know that we were there for Wicked, assuming she would then let us turn and park.

Except, she didn’t.

She just blurted out the name of the mall and pointed down the road.  Even when my friend and I questioned this being correct for those going to Wicked… she just repeated herself and pointed.  So we ended up having to drive WAY out of our way to a mall that is in a not-so-great part of town, just to realize we were going to have to stand in a HUGE line to even get on the shuttle bus to go back.

Needless to say, we weren’t happy.

We ended up calling the theater’s box office and spoke with someone there about the chaotic parking situation and the fact that we basically weren’t going to get there until the show was already half over.  And… how unhappy we were that our money was being wasted.

Thankfully, the man I spoke with was very nice and informed me that he’d be happy to give me a full refund the next day or see if they could get us in to another show.

So, since my friend and I found ourselves all dressed up with nowhere to go, we decided to just go out for some appetizers and drinks in uptown Charlotte.  We ended up at a cute Irish pub and had a nice time, just catching up and enjoying some good food and cider.  After we finished, we decided it might be fun to head over to another venue in uptown called Epicentre, to see what kind of live music might be going on.

We headed over there and spent another 30 minutes or so, hanging out at another little pub, just listening to some music but soon realized we were tired and ready to go home.  We gathered our stuff and when we headed outside, took a left and started walking up the street toward our car… or so we thought.

One thing I failed to mention, is as we were walking from the pub to the Epicentre, we were stopped several times by homeless people asking for help.  When the first man asked me if I could spare any money, I gave him my last $1 bill – literally.  Then when a woman stopped us a few blocks later, my friend and I gave her our leftovers from the restaurant.

But now, as we walked back toward our car, we were approached by a young couple.  The man did all of the talking, while his “wife” (he said he called her that because they had been together for so long, although they weren’t officially married yet) walked quietly behind him.  He explained to us that they had come up from Charleston, SC and they hadn’t been there very long but just needed something to eat.  My friend told him that she would not give him cash, but that if he wanted to go to a store, she would buy him something.

He said he knew of a 7-11 down the street, so after consulting with my friend (we were taking a chance after all!), we started walking with them.  The 7-11 ended up being quite a walk away, so as we walked, he filled us in about their story – telling us how he had never been close to his father but then ended up taking care of him when he was passing away from cancer, how he had gotten mixed up in drugs and done some “bad stuff” ending up in jail, how she had also been in jail and how he was trying to change his life and be a more “honest person” now.  He also told us how he had been hitchhiking on interstate 77, when a man picked him up and gave him a ride and a hot meal.  He said he also talked to him about Jesus.  In that moment, God reminded me that I had one of my “Good Samaritan” gift cards (every Christmas, I buy 3 or 4 gift cards to Target and Harris Teeter and wait for God to lead me to the right people that need them) left in my purse and that I needed to continue showing him the love of Jesus by giving it to him.  So I did, which he received with a big smile, as he thanked me and shook my hand.

We eventually got to the 7-11, where my friend went inside and bought them each a sandwich, a Gatorade and a bag of chips.  We then wished them well and parted ways, using my friend’s GPS on her phone to find our way back to where our car was parked.

Now, you know what’s really interesting?

When we got all the way back to the garage, we realized it was almost directly across from the Epicentre and if we had just come out and basically looked up and to the right, we would’ve seen it.

But was it really a coincidence that we walked to the left instead of the right?

Or were we meant to walk that way so we could run into that couple, talk to them, give them food and demonstrate the love of Jesus?

Sure, our plans might’ve originally been to get all dressed up and go see a Broadway show.  But sometimes God has different plans.

Plans to use you to help others and to shine His light into their lives.

It might’ve been a pretty weird night when all was said and done, but it ended up being a pretty awesome one too.

“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
-Matthew25:40 ESV