COEUR d’ALENE — Fresh tears were in the corners of Robert Gladney's eyes when he got out of friend Amy Pederson's car Saturday night.

He couldn't believe the Christmas miracle that had just happened.

"Really, we just started crying," he said. "We were just trying to do something nice."

“I’m amazed,” Pederson said. "I’m just speechless."

The two were Christmas shopping when they came upon two men in front of Ross Dress for Less in Coeur d'Alene. The men held a cardboard sign that read, "Cold and hungry. God bless."

It was only about 11 degrees outside and getting colder by the hour. They offered the men some money, but “not very much," Pederson said. "We don’t have a lot. It’s been rough."

"She just had a little bit of change, so we thought, ‘OK, let’s do it,’" Gladney said.

Instead of accepting their money, the two men thanked them, offered blessings and gave them a card in an envelope. Pederson and Gladney went about their shopping and soon returned to their vehicle.

That's when they opened the card.

"We were reading it and I pulled it open and there was money ($300) in it. I’m like, ‘Holy cow.' It's..." Gladney said, stopping to clear his throat as his eyes glistened. "It just really surprised us; it really surprised me. I have no money right now and I won’t have money until January. I started going back to school to learn something different. I don’t have any money for presents or anything."

He said he hasn't been able to work for four years and his disability claims have been repeatedly denied.

"It's just been really hard," he said.

Two days before Christmas, an unexpected gift of $300 was a blessing beyond words. The friends went back to the two men to thank them.

"We gave each other a hug and I told them, ‘Merry Christmas, God bless,’" Gladney said.

The Altar Church's outreach pastor, John Padula, and Nick Murley of Family Worship Center didn't mind spending a few hours in the sub-freezing cold to bless others who blessed them with their time and kindness.

Many people walked right past them, as many do when they see homeless and indigent people on street corners. But for those who stopped, even to offer encouragement or a hug, Padula and Murley had a prayer and a little something else to give in return.

The idea to go undercover suddenly came to Padula when he was driving one day.

"It's just what the Lord called me to do," he said. "I believe God gave that to me."

He spoke to the pastors at his church and asked them to pray about it. He said they all agreed that "that's what God is leading us to do."

Padula raised $1,000, which was matched by his church. He tucked gifts of $200, $400 and $500 into Christmas cards and went out with friend Adam Johnson on Dec. 8 and 9 with a sign that simply read, "Need encouragement. God bless."

They were not successful at U.S. 95 and Appleway. They went to a few different stores where they were shooed away by managers who had received complaints.

Padula said the team at Super 1 Foods in Coeur d'Alene was happy to help their mission.

"We told them what we were doing," he said. "They loved what we were doing and told us we could stay."

Hundreds of people walked by them without stopping or making eye contact. Those who did stop made a permanent mark on Padula's heart — a teenage courtesy clerk who didn't even open his card until he was off work, a young woman who was hurting because of the death of her mother, another teenager who put his hands on Padula and Johnson to pray with them.

"I told him, 'God is pleased with you,'" Padula said of the young man. "He went in and went shopping. When he came out he gave me three hugs, and said, 'You have no idea, my finances have really been struggling.' He was jacked that the Lord had blessed him."

They later stood at the entrance of Winco, where a young woman and her friend bought them sodas and they received encouragement from many others.

"The last one that night was a gentleman named Craig Pope," Padula said. "He literally walked up to me weeping and he was so excited to want to help. He prayed for us, asked if we needed a hotel room, just a great guy."

Pope, of Coeur d'Alene, said he was ready to offer a ride or the couch in his own home.

"I have a really soft heart for the homeless because I have been," he said. "They just get walked by and they just get treated like they're dirt, and it doesn't matter if you give them a burrito or just stop and say hi and acknowledge their existence, it will brighten their day."

Pope didn't need a card with money in it to appreciate the mission of Padula and his colleagues.

"I think it's absolutely beautiful what John is doing because this is what Christ did," he said. "I lost it when I was talking to him, not because I was overwhelmed with compassion for him, it was just an overwhelming sense of the Holy Spirit in him and I connected with him instantaneously. It was literally awesome."

With the help of the Altar, Candlelight Church, Heart of the City Church and other donors, Padula was able to gift $3,500 to unsuspecting citizens who simply showed a little kindness to their fellow humans in need.

"I want to know what's motivating them," Padula said. "That's the cool part, the compassion that these people have."