At the beginning of this week, Ryan, Nicole, and I all took a little trip up to Hermiston to scope the place out and try to find a decent place for us to live this coming year. The drive up there is beautiful, and we had a pretty nice time (except for all the car troubles!).
When we first arrived in Hermiston, we had to head straight over to the Les Schwab Tire Center because our rear brakes were completely shot (as in making horrible noises because metal was grating on metal...). Normally Ryan would have replaced the brakes himself, but we were in a new town with none of his tools, so we had to resort to Les Schwab. Unfortunately, the day we arrived also happened to be the day that everyone decided to have their snow tires taken off their cars...it was BUSY!
So, for two hours we had to wait in their waiting room...and then they were finally able to pull our car into the garage and take a look at the brakes to confirm what we had already guessed: they needed to be replaced. And it was gonna cost us over $500!
Now, I'm going to be completely honest. I was a little stressed. We're living off of student loans right now, and this was not helping our financial situation! As I was sitting in the waiting room, Nicole and Ryan were off at a different part of the building, and an older lady came and sat by me. I was not in any mood to talk, but she began to speak to me as if we were old friends. She told me about her day, why she was at Les Schwab's (her battery was completely dead and needed to be replaced), etc. I'm not proud of this, but I wished that she would go away...I made as little eye contact with her as possible and answered her questions with the most simple yes's and no's that I could. I was too busy worrying about my own problems.
(Here's the part where I eat humble pie...)
Then a man came and sat next to us, and she began telling her whole life's story to him. At first I smiled to myself, glad that she was no longer talking to me. Then I noticed how kind and concerned he was. He took the time to get to know her. He found out that she wasn't getting her Social Security check until the end of the week, and that she had no money to get a new battery, but she also had no way to get home if she didn't get the battery because she relied on her car. She had tried to call her Pastor and a few other people to see if they could help her out until she got her check, but had not been able to get a hold of anyone. Her credit was awful, so Les Schwab would not extend a line of credit to her.
Now, I know this man didn't have money to spare either, but he did the Christian thing: he paid for her battery. $83. He just put it on his credit card, along with the cost of the services he'd received that day. The employee at the counter was astounded, thinking that maybe he didn't realize the amount that he was offering to pay. He humbly acknowledged that he knew the price and wanted to pay it in full for the woman, and when he left the older lady gratefully called out "God Bless!"
This really touched my heart. Where was my compassion? Why didn't I see a need and volunteer to help in some small way? I was too absorbed in my trials to see the blessings that were all around me...
In Matthew 25 we read:
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee asick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have adone it unto one of the bleast of these my cbrethren, ye have done it unto me.
1 comment:
Wow, what a neat experience. Conference was a great experience today. I love how we hear what we need, and EVERYONE hears something different!
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