Christian Living

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It was the last leg of a long commute at the end of an even longer day. As I pulled out of the park and ride I saw someone standing outside of their car on the side of the road, hazard lights on, talking on the phone, and I thought, “I'm sure they have help coming.” I passed by, only to feel a tug at my soul I could not deny. I knew the Holy Spirit was urging me to turn around. “I would have to make two u-turns through heavy traffic,” I thought in reply. TURN AROUND, He urged me again. “I still have to get the kids...” excuses started flooding into my mind. Of course the key reason was that I was tired, and besides that, what could I do? I even went so far as to pray for the Lord to send someone to help them. YOU ARE SOMEONE, I received in reply.

   So that's how I found myself waiting at the next light to do my first u-turn and go back to the car on the side of the road when Brant Hansen started talking on the radio station Air1. Out of no where he starts talking about how in the bible a hero wasn't some guy in tights fighting super villains, they were simply the ones that were obedient in the moment. “Huh,” I thought, “are you trying to say something to me here Lord?”

  When I showed up at the broken down car I found four young people that had no idea what they were going to do. They were from another city and didn't know anyone here in Houston, the bolt holding down their spare tire was corroded in place, and it didn't look like they had money for a tow truck. Their speech and dress was something straight out of a rap video, and they looked dubious to be having this skinny, nerdy looking fellow in business casual stop to help them out.

    I managed to get the bolt off of their spare using a pry bar I just happened to have in the trunk and helped them change their tire in my khakis and undershirt. In the process I told them about how the Lord had told me to turn around and what Brant had said on the radio, about how I wanted to pass them by, but the Holy Spirit told me to come back and help. Before I left, the driver said to me “God is good,” I was more than a bit surprised, and honestly wasn't sure how to respond. Her name was Angelica.

   When I finally got to my mother-in-law's she needed help putting up the ghoul for Halloween. It certainly wasn't something I felt like doing after all that, and it was getting dark, but I knew that she needed my help. She was, after all, family. But wait, there's more! Turns out my sister-in-law had a flat tire of her own that she needed help with. Of course I couldn't just leave her hanging, so on it was to flat tire number two. After all, family helps family.

It was late and I was exhausted by the time I finally got home, and my physical disability was causing me quite a lot of pain, but I was also joyful that the good Lord had done His work through me because of my obedience. Yet the thought occurs to me now that the second two tasks were done without question, because they were for (you guessed it) family. Jesus told us to love our neighbor as our self, but when you pass by a stranger in need they don't seem like your neighbor. It's just some stranger and it's not our problem; besides, what can we do? Maybe if we started thinking of those strangers as our neighbors, and those neighbors as our family, things would get done a little quicker. Maybe people would be left stranded a little less, and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ would extend through His body here on earth a little more.

   So the next time you pass by someone in need, or a neighbor you don't know, or maybe something that needs fixing, don't think, “someone else will take care of it.” Instead remember those two flat tires, the ghoul, and Jesus, and TURN AROUND.

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