Christian Living

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The Good Samaritan
© 2007

by

Stephen A. Peterson


Ken Dixon, 17, always yearned to be a Good Samaritan but somehow never seemed to have the opportunity or perhaps he simply told himself that he didn’t have the time. Looking back on his short life, he began to think that he was too busy to pay much attention to anyone’s distress signals—until one day…

He knocked at his front door, interrupting Ken in the middle of the football game of the year—the Super Bowl. His car had broken down right in front of his house. The man’s wife and daughter were in the car. The dead battery of his cell phone made it useless. Standing outside his door on a cold February evening, the man simply asked if he could use Ken’s house phone to call a wrecker and then a cab to transport his family to a hotel.

Fighting to get back to the football game, Ken thought, “Why didn’t he knock on someone else’s door instead of mine? Darn, there are other houses in this neighborhood!” When the man came to the door, Ken felt like the Pharisee who saw the injured man lying on the road. At that time, the Pharisee looked at the injured man and left him on the side of the road to die. Would Ken do this as well?

After thinking about it, Ken decided to let the man and his family in. How would he explain his actions to his parents who might be furious because he let perfect strangers into the house when he had been told time and time again never to do so. But he took the chance against the odds that this family might him no harm.

Ken made the two adults cups of coffee, gave them milk for their baby, helped them locate a wrecker to tow their car in for repair and a hotel to stay in for a couple of days. Questions came to Ken once again, “Why are you doing these things for these people? What if they do something?” Then the young mother with her now sleeping daughter gave an enormous smile of relief changed everything for Ken. He no longer felt like an evil person suspicious of this family seeking his aid nor did he think of them as potentially evil people desiring to harm him. In fact, Ken began to enjoy the role of Good Samaritan. It made him feel good about himself and this family.

“How can we ever thank you, young man?” said the man as their cab arrived in Ken’s driveway. “My family and I were in need of a friendly hand being in a place we’ve never been in, around people who don’t know us. My name is Royce Denison, my wife’s name is Doris, and my daughter’s is Christiana. Thank you. May the Lord bless you.” With that the man and his family entered the cab which seemed to vanish in the cold of the night as it went down the street.

Ken returned to watching the Super Bowl game now with a sense of contentment that he did the right thing. He also realized that often times it doesn’t take much effort or time to be a Good Samaritan. It only takes a bit of caring, courage; follow through as well as a trust in God Himself his ultimate visitor!

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