Faith, Family, food, Hope, inspiration, kindness, life

A Little Favor

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The last thing I wanted was a diversion.  It’d been a long day.

Sure enough, diversion.

As I drove out, he was walking the opposite direction into a cold, 20 mph wind with light drizzling rain.

“Stop. Turn around and give him a ride” was the quiet, still message inside.

My internal response was, “Aww man!”

A quarter mile down the road, I felt bad, so a U-turn and a quarter mile back, I pulled up beside the tall, slender man.

He was probably 55 to 60 years old, carrying a plastic grocery bag in each hand.  His clothes were old and worn, but clean and well cared for.

His head was ducked down, leaning into the frigid wind, and his arms remained close to his sides to try to stay warm while carrying milk in one bag and can goods in the other.

He looked up with a tired, worn expression, but when I asked through my truck window if he wanted a ride, his eyes lit up instantly.

Honestly, I wish I could say I was on board with the whole idea of offering him a ride, but frankly, a selfish twinge pinged inside me when he gladly accepted.

RabBits 30

He climbed in and I realized just how wet he was from the drizzling rain.  He took off his cap and immediately stuck out his hand in thanks. His thick gray hair poked out every which direction and he had a three day beard growing in.

I cranked up the heater as he told me he had about a mile to go and began a quick story about what he was doing.

He’d walked to the nearest convenience store, not for himself, but a sick, elderly neighbor woman.

He barely knew the old woman, but earlier in the day she had hobbled outside to set out her trash for pick up.  They briefly chatted about the weather and she mentioned needing to go to the store.

Realizing she was about out of food, he told her he was going later in the day and would pick up whatever she needed.

She didn’t know his spontaneous offer was in spite of the fact that he had no transportation and would be walking in bad weather in her behalf.

He had bundled up, marched to the store, bought the few items on her list and was on his way back.

A Little Favor

He said, “I sure appreciate ya stopping. It wasn’t raining when I left and I think its gotten colder.  Can I give you some gas money?”

I respectfully declined, now completely humbled from my own selfish thoughts moments before. 

It was only a mile or so to the meager trailer park where he lived, and he pointed me to the front of the old woman’s run down trailer house.

His sincere gratitude sounded more like I’d given him a new car instead of a car ride. 

We shook hands again before he jumped out to deliver his bags of kindness.

Five minutes…it took just five minutes.  You know, initially I thought he needed a little favor, but in reality, it was I in need.

 

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46 thoughts on “A Little Favor”

  5. I love how God speaks to us when we least expect it and also how we “feel” to His nudge. Remember what scripture says in Hebrews 13:2…Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

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  11. Wow.. What kindness on earth!! A happy read for us too.. Motivated me instantly!! This just reminds me of an old man, yesterday on roadside, asking for lift desperately. I mustention his looks and clothes were enough to suggest that he was very poor and weak. Now that created conflict of thoughts in me in a flash of a second, first thought wanted to stop and help and offer a ride, also reminded me of my times when people helped me giving lifts, and the overriding second thought alerted me of not risking myself on a 2 wheeler, it warned I should consider helping if he were a woman asking for a lift, then it would be reasonable if I offered help. The second thought won, ofcourse, leaving a not-a-good-decision feel and I speeded my bike then, still watching on rear view mirror for a few seconds if anybody else helped him.
    Whom should I blame here? Was I wrong in not stopping and extending help?

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    1. Wonderful question!! No, I don’t think you were wrong. There is a time that discernment should take over. I never picked up a hitchhiker, for instance, when one of my children was with me. Too many things could go wrong for the detriment of one of my children. As a female, I would probably suggest to you not pick up a hitchhiker.

      If I didn’t pick someone up, however, I could still say a quick prayer for them to Christ Jesus, or go back later on my own, or even get a friend or law enforcement to check on them. There’s all kinds of ways to help people, even when you’re not rubbing elbows with them. I try to listen to the Spirit within me, (not always or often enough, unfortunately) and try to follow what I feel the Lord Jesus is directing me to do. I was at complete peace picking this stranger up, but I’ve had other times that alarms were sounding off and it would be completely foolish, even wrong at times, to pick someone up. Hope that helps.

      To follow the Lord, here’s something to start with to read — Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23 and Romans 10:9,10 Let me know if you have questions….

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      1. Yeah it helped.. Helped me further understand on how a situation can be better handled and responded to. You appropriately quoted discernment here, when it alarms you over what overwhelms you. Saying a quick prayer for those whom we can’t help is something I also practice, other ideas you shared are worth remembering for me. Thankyou for sharing!

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  14. Absolutely! And, absolutely beautiful! Yes, the flesh will roar its ugly head at times and try to persuade us to not do what we know we should do, but when we yield to the Spirit, and not to the flesh, we are blessed every time. Thank you for being obedient to the Spirit and for going against your flesh, and for helping someone who was helping someone else who was in need. Beautiful story, beautifully told, too.

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  16. Loved this post and the great reminder to take notice of that ‘inner voice’ – love the fact that you acknowledge that you probably needed it as much as the man you helped did – how true – thankyou for posting this – blessings Lois

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  17. This was awesome. Ive been where you are. Ive helped before but these days I’m leary. But when the Spirit of God whispers you have to trust his voice though. My daughter and I were walking from Starbucks with our coffee when we came across a man living on the street with his shopping cart. This was not an unusual sight and I simply walked by him. Suddenly I heard in my spirit, “I was hungry and you didn’t feed me, thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink”. “Darn”, I told my daughter, “we have to walk back”. The gentleman was grateful.

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    1. It’s so hard sometimes to know exactly what we should do, and you are right to be leary. Don’t tread where angels fear to go, but when God whispers, the way is made straight! Peace to you!

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  18. Love the story. I did this once, but it was a crippled man who I saw walking home from the store regularly so I knew he was harmless, and it was very cold outside. Of course, family/ friends were all properly horrified that I would do such a thing. *roll eyes* The Lord leads us where he needs us.

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