It was a busy day. Hot. I was in a coat and tie, driving, enjoying the air conditioning, when my front left tire went slack. My speaking engagement was twenty minutes down the road. It’d take AAA a half hour to come. This task was mine and in a hurry.
About then a truck pulled up. A gentle-looking, fit man in his sixties got out and inquired, “Need some help?” So I gave him the 30-second version of my dilemma. “Have her fixed in five minutes,” he soothed.
And he did.
I offered to pay him. “No,” he said. “I’m retired on a good pension. And every day I get up and volunteer.”
“Where?” I asked.
“Oh, wherever. I just drive or walk around, looking for people who need help and that is where I serve.”
“How did you learn to do such a thing?” I pressed.
“Well, the Bible says Jesus went about doing good (Acts 10:38). So that’s what I’m trying to do.”
I shook his hand and drove away. I was on time. I did my job teaching.
Yet these many days later I still think of my retired friend who lent me a helping hand.
And I want to be like him. For Jesus went about doing good. And it is a sadness to me that I am so content with just going about.
The Reverend Stephen Crotts is pastor of Village Presbyterian Church in Charlotte Court House, VA. He is also the director of the Carolina Study Center, Inc., a campus ministry, located in Chapel Hill, NC. Pastor Crotts may be reached at carolinastudycenter@msn.com.
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