I've been going through a time of spiritual uneasiness, with many contributing factors. I will save the discussion of those factors and their effects for another post. To-day at work I had to stop what I was doing a couple of times to ask for the grace to continue. I heard it over and over: 'You have no idea what I have in store for you.'
God is good, and He knows exactly what I need, and when I need it - praise His name!
I was mindlessly driving home after five of the clock (not unlike the time I entered into a non-binding union with the lady from Downriver whose suv I sent spinning when she blew through the stop sign at Strawberry Lake Rd and Hamburg Rd) when there appeared a young man walking northward on Whitmore Lake Road right before Wynans. I passed him heading home southward; judging by the expression on his face, he didn't seem in discomfort or distress, but his pace was hurried and deliberate. Definitely not an evening power walk though, so my spirit was troubled. I only managed to get a quarter mile or so past before I turned around and headed back north to offer a ride. He was still walking on the right side of the road, and the guy behind me was turning left, so I was comfortable slowing, and then with the window down: 'Can I give you a ride somewhere?'
My appearance seemed to startle him, but he quite anxiously told me he was going south, 'anywhere south'. I said 'Well get in', not discerning yet that he wasn't walking south. I think he was blessed to be able to vent; about a divorce and property lost and violence and drinking - before it clicked in my pea brain that we were headed north. I told him this, and he mumbled something about a gps and stupid phone and we did a little hoorahing at the Lee Road roundabout and at long last accessed the ramp to US-23 south. (If you are not familiar with the Lee Road roundabout, you are most probably not from Livingston County, and that is all there is to it).
I am not in the least bit uncomfortable picking up strangers ion my vehicle and helping them get closer to their destination. In fact, a couple years ago I picked up a kid hitching at that same roundabout; he was headed to Ann Arbor to panhandle on the highway. To-day, though, Will was headed down to Illinois to spend some time with his brother and clear his head of recent events. I knew I couldn't have gotten him all that way, but I wanted to put at least a good bit of scenery in his rear view before dark. We chatted and shared stories and the drive to Napoleon in Ohio went pretty quick. I bought him a quick burger, game him my cross and a couple bucks for the travels and he texted me so I'd have his number.
Nice kid, I wish him all the best; I have added him to my morning prayer list.
The drive home was uneventful. In fact, from the State line to Ann Arbor, I passed very few vehicles. As I neared the now familiar territory, I thought of Saline Rd Buddy's only briefly - once the cold sweats past I was fine into the last quarter hour of my three hour journey.
I have never every given someone a ride and regretted it. The most rewarding ones are when I go out of the way to help someone get somewhere. I know what it's like, as I told Will, to be stuck somewhere and need a lift, or a tow, or a hand out of a snowbank. I thank our Father in heaven for the chance (that I could have very easily missed) to pay it forward just a bit.
No comments:
Post a Comment