I ran across a video today and decided to watch it. The title was simply “Giving” and it was produced by TrueMove H. The touching story contained in the 3 minute clip is enough to move even the hardest heart, but what I discovered was this was not just a video produced in order to move people, but was, in fact, based on a true story that took place in Thailand. Warning: This video will cause tears to flow.

The video begins with an account of a little boy who apparently is caught stealing some medicine and painkillers from a local shop. As he is being chastised by the owner of the store, another man comes over and asks if the medicine is for his mother, to which the young boy nods.

Upon seeing this, the man is moved to pay for the medicine and call to his daughter to provide a bag of “veggie soup.” He places the medicine in the bag and hands it to the boy, who quickly runs away.

Fast forward thirty years and the man has now grown old and so has his daughter. They still provide food in their business and the daughter, having learned the kindness of her father notices what appears to be a homeless man and calls to her father, who then gives him a bag of “veggie soup.”

Upon doing so, the father apparently has some sort of stroke or other medical condition, which he ends up having to undergo serious brain surgery for. Following the surgery, the young girl is given an enormous bill, one which she cannot pay and one that forces her to put her family business up for sale.

Unknown to the watchers of the video, the doctor is none other than the little boy her father took care of some thirty years ago.

The girl falls asleep at her father’s bedside, only to wake up to a new bill that says the balance has been paid in full thirty years ago with three packs of painkillers and a bag of “veggie soup.”

Dr. Dr. Prajak Arunthong went from a child who was a thief in order to aid his sick mother to a brilliant brain surgeon that God would later use to save the life of the man that would be used to set him on the right path.

While Christ is not mentioned in this video, there is no doubt this is what James had in mind when he wrote:

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. –James 2:14-17

Do you have true faith my friend or a dead faith? Do you show compassion to those, especially of the household of faith, or do you merely offer words? The product of a faith that truly believes is one that loves others (1 John 3:18). Go in the name of Christ and do likewise. You never know when it will come back to you.