"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience..." Colossians 3:12
Yesterday had been a really long day by the time I was driving home.
I had been at my job since 6:20 in the morning. I was running on less sleep than my body needs and I needed to be at work again today at 6:30. I had worked a nine-hour shift with no break. And simply put, I was just exhausted. I was ready to go home, take a shower, get in my pajamas, eat dinner, and go to bed early.
And that's when I saw her.
I was passing Walmart when I saw a Hispanic woman standing on the corner of the Walmart entrance. She was holding a sign that explained that she was a single mom and was in need of help. She was asking for someone to help her. A few young children were by her side.
They were homeless.
They hadn't been homeless for long clearly because their clothes still looked in good condition. But they were homeless and needed help.
And I love homeless people. They hold such a special place in my heart.
I immediately thought of the fifty-dollar bill in my wallet- fifty dollars I wasn't counting in my bank account anyways- and I was prepared to help her and her children without a second thought if they needed help. She needed it more than I did. So I took my eyes off of the road for a brief moment to read her sign and to see if she was indeed homeless as I suspected.
My eyes scanned her sign as I passed. And then I felt a thud. My front right tire had hit the curb.
No big deal. I straightened my car again and that's when I heard through my rolled-down windows, a sickening hissing sound. A very loud, very rapid hiss. I had never heard that sound before, but I immediately knew what it was.
I had a flat.
My very first flat tire.
From trying to help someone.
From caring.
From my compassionate heart.
From my big stupid compassionate heart.
In a panic, I swerved (safely though!) into the near turn lane I had almost passed and I turned into the parking lot of Sam's Club across the street from the Walmart. I anchored my gear shift stick into park, locked gears with my emergency brake, and jumped out of my car, running around to the passenger side to inspect the damage.
I groaned inwardly to myself.
The tire was as flat as could be. The rim nearly touched the pavement and I had left a trail of black skid where I had driven. I took a deep breath and sunk back into the driver's seat. Then out came my iPhone. Mom.
A brief phone conversation with my mom revealed that she was at least forty-five minutes from where I was. So I called my dad who could leave work and come to my rescue much sooner than my mom could. I explained to him the situation and how it had happened. He would be on his way.
Meanwhile, I decided to wait inside the Sam's Club rather than in the deserted side parking area. It seemed safer. So I got out of my car, locked the doors, and began walking around the building to its front.
That's when I realized that I had parked beside the auto repair center. Hmm. Convenient.
Inside, I sat in the cafeteria and tried to amuse myself and pass the time on my cell phone while I waited for my dad to arrive. I was tired and grumpy. And pretty down. I thought of how much money I would have to unexpectedly pay from my savings for Hawaii to replace my tire. I felt stressed and worried. And I just wanted to go home and sleep. I hadn't planned for this.
I felt like a total fool. A total fool for how it had happened. I ruefully bit my tongue from cursing the gift of compassion the Lord had given me. I was frustrated.
But then I stopped. I was still worried and stressed about the financial expense, but I realized that I needed to count my blessings and still thank the Lord even despite my unfavorable circumstance.
So I began making a list on my cell phone of the things I could be thankful for about the situation:
1. No part of my actual car was messed up. (And no part of ME was messed up!)
2. I'm in Georgia and not in Hawaii yet where my dad can't come rescue me.
3. I guess at least I popped it in wanting to help someone in need.
4. I have a little bit of extra money in my bank account than I had budgeted for going to Hawaii.
And 5. I'm stranded in the Sam's Club auto shop's parking. Most convenient.
"I'm cranky and bummed," I wrote, "but the Lord is still faithful!"
My father arrived and I made my way around the building to meet him at my car. His pickup truck was already parked and he was surveying the damage.
I held my breath. "Are you mad at me?" I called out to him as I approached.
"No, I'm not mad," he assured me. I should've known he wouldn't be.
But why wasn't he mad? In my own eyes, I had just done the stupidest thing, not watching where I was driving because I was busy distracted by a homeless woman and her children. It was ridiculous.
My dad retrieved the spare tire and car jack from my sedan trunk and commenced to replace my flat tire. I sat on the curb and silently watched him, lost in my thoughts, my anxiety, and my woe.
That's when the thought crossed my mind. What if it hadn't been an accident that that had happened? What if there had been a reason for it? What if there was something that God was trying to get through my thick skull through the situation?
I didn't know. But I thought of the woman again. Had I not popped my tire, I would've driven past her and missed my opportunity to help her. To bless her. To be used of God to provide for her needs. Maybe that's why my tire had popped. To give me another chance.
I thought of the woman again. And I forgave myself. The Lord gave me a compassionate heart for a reason. In fact, I purposed that if the woman was still there when I left, I would still drive across the street and give her the fifty dollars I had tucked away in the pocket of my little black clutch purse. Sure, to some people, it would seem idiotic of me. It seemed foolish to my common sense too, especially in spite now of over a hundred dollars I would have to pay to get my car back on the road for good.
But I didn't care. If she was still there, that fifty-dollar bill was hers.
My dad lifted my car on the car jack and began removing the lugs. As he worked, a red-haired young man dressed in a mechanic suit appeared from the auto center. "Are you guys okay over here?" he asked, approaching where we were. "If we had known, we could've come out and been working on this for her," he told my dad.
My dad thanked him for his offer to help. "Okay, well, let us know if you need anything," he added before returning to the auto shop.
My dad removed four of the five lugs. But there was one that stuck tight. It wouldn't budge. I watched my dad struggle with it, praying with every turn that it wouldn't break and applying his whole force to it so that his face was red and his biceps defined and prominent. It squealed in protest. I held my breath as I watched. Something was going break.
His efforts were useless though. So he went to see if our young mechanic friend might be able to help.
The young man attempted with his own hand wrench and manpower to unscrew the lug but to no avail either. He then asked if we had a Sam's Club membership, to which we weren't certain if my mom did or not. Technically, they weren't supposed to work on any cars if the person didn't have a membership, he told us.
But he did anyways. "I'm sure we've all been stranded on the road at some point," he said. If we didn't have a membership, he said not to worry about it. We could use his.
The auto center was already closed for the day, and he was already off of work. But he opened the first bay of the auto shop and drove my car into the work area. Though he ended up having to break the stubborn lug with the impact wrench to remove the flat tire and though they didn't have in stock for my car any new tires that I could afford (to which the mechanic agreed that they were a really expensive tire and I could get them cheaper elsewhere), the young man had my spare tire in place and on the road in no time.
He washed his greasy hands, drove my car out with my dad and I following behind, and parked. When he stepped out from behind the steering wheel, we thanked him and offered him a monetary expression of our gratitude for his help. He had worked off of the clock for no pay, staying late when he could've been home already on a Friday night after a long week of work. He made no money off of helping us.
But he shook his head and held up a hand in refusal. "No, I was glad to help," he insisted genuinely. "Pay it forward for someone else."
And like that, an hour and a half later, I was on the road headed home again. To my deep grief, by that time, the woman and her children had disappeared from their place standing at the corner and I'll never know how their story ends up.
I added more to my list of blessings I was thankful for though.
6. The auto mechanics were still there.
7. The young mechanic was kind and generous.
8. I would only need to pay for two new tires, a wheel alignment, and a new lug rather than needing a new wheel as well as we had initially thought.
9. I was able to learn a little about changing a flat tire.
And 10. I learned both that there is still goodness in this world and that in a spiritual sense, even if we veer off course in this life, the Lord is still there with us and we can still see His fingerprints all around us if we only look for them.
The mechanic didn't know what he had taught me. To him, he had just changed a flat tire for someone who needed help.
But to me, he taught me that compassion and kindness is magic and power and that it always has its reward. He restored my faith in humanity. And I learned that kindness in helping another human being is always worth it.
So be kind, reach out a hand to help your neighbor you cross paths with, be a good Samaritan, and never be ashamed of caring for one another nor of needing the help of someone in return.
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:12-17
