Christian Living

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A Teenage Good Samaritan
© 2008

by

Stephen A. Peterson


Since reading and discussing the story of the Good Samaritan in her Sunday School class, Andreanna McCullough somehow never seemed to have the opportunity or simply told herself that she did not have the time. As she looked back on her situation and the events in recent weeks, she realized that she was so busy with school, extracurricular activities and event within her own life to pay much attention to the plight of others—until one day in March, 2008.

A young woman knocked on the door, interrupting Andreanna in the middle of her favorite television program—Wheel of Fortune. Her car had suddenly broken down in front of her house, with her infant daughter in her car seat and a cell phone with a dead battery. At first Andreanna did not want to open the door for her mother had instructed to never open the door when she was not at home. Yet the woman’s knocks continued.

“Should I open this door? Maybe it’s a trick to rob our home,” she thought. “Why didn’t she knock on someone else’s door instead of our door?” Andreanna felt like the Grinch and did not want to disobey her mother’s directives but she invited her in. But first, she ran back to her car to get her daughter.

Andreanna made her a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a sandwich, gave her daughter milk and let her use the telephone to call a wrecker service to tow or work on her car. An enormous smile of relief her face and her daughter stopped crying. These events changed everything for Andreanna. She no longer felt like the Grinch. In fact, she began to enjoy the role of Good Samaritan. It made her feel good about herself and the action she took to help a desperate woman and her infant daughter. But how would her mother respond when she told her what she did begin to cross her mind.

“How can I ever begin to thank you, Andreanna, for helping me and my daughter? I don’t know what I would have done,” she asked Andreanna as she prepared to pick up her daughter in her car seat. “I was really in desperate need of a friendly hand…and you gave it to me and more. You are really a good teenage person. I just wish there were many more like you!!! What a wonderful place this world would be! May God bless you and take care of you.” At that, the young woman and her daughter left the McCullough house.

In the quiet of her living room, Andreanna thought to herself, “Gosh, it really doesn’t take a whole lot to be a Good Samaritan to someone who needs a little bit of help. This is neat!!”


Andreanna came to realize that it really does not take a great deal of time or effort, in most instances, to be a Good Samaritan. It simply takes a little bit of caring and sharing of you. You rarely, if ever, will be able to dramatically change the world in a day or so. However, with a little effort and kindness you can do so one person at a time. Why not start this very day.

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