I was sending off my tax stuff at the Post Office earlier this week, and a young mom with 2 small kids was in front of me. When I left, she was out at her van, putting her kids in car seats, and had her hood open. I pulled over to offer help, and she said her engine wouldn’t start, wouldn’t even turn over. I pulled in my truck next to her, and said, "Let me see if I can help." Turns out, her battery terminals were full of corrosion, and the negative cable popped right off. I cleaned up her battery connections, tightened everything down, and it started right up. She was very grateful, and tried to pay me $10, saying, “No one stops to help anymore, I am so thankful for you. And I don’t carry a cell phone, so I didn’t know what to do.” I gently refused her $$, so she said, “Well, can I give you a hug at least?” which I said was fine, and said, “I’m just glad I could help. God bless you & your family.” I left, as did she, but I was thinking, ‘I wish I had said more, shared my faith more.’ So I prayed for her and her family, that they would somehow come to faith in Christ if they did not already know Him.
Here’s the Paul Harvey “Rest of the Story.” I pulled into the parking lot at Hebron, and she pulled in behind me, a few spaces down! I got out, and asked her, “Are your kids in our Preschool program here?” which she said they were. When I introduced myself to her, her eyes got wide, and she exclaimed, “I’m Patricia Mason*, my husband Ben* has been playing telephone tag with you for a couple of weeks about Cade*!” (their son, for our new Christian class). We talked as she brought her kids in, and they told me they’ve been visiting here for awhile. I walked to my office feeling overwhelmed that God had me there to help her at just that moment, and that they were a family I’ve been trying to connect with for some time now! Penny, one of the ladies in our business office, had been at the Post Office too, saw the whole thing, and told me later that morning, “I saw you help that young lady, and thought, ’Oh, there’s Rob, doing a random act of kindness!’ I guess it wasn’t so random, was it??” Definitely an unexpected opportunity.
God works in mysterious ways, we've always heard. Amazingly, He'll use us to touch other's lives in "divine appointments" like this, if we will just be open and available. May I always be ready to respond to these "unexpected adventures."
*Names changed for privacy.