PASS IT ON
"See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to everyone else."
1 Thessalonians 5:15 (NIV)
The temperature was five below zero. The icy wind caught my hat and sent it tumbling across the snow drifts. Now the car wouldn't start. Not a grind or a grumble; the battery was dead.
My head dropped to the steering wheel. I prayed for a way out of the cold mess. Finally, I got out of the car and raised the hood. A few minutes later a man walked over to my car.
"Battery dead?" he said with a smile.
"Yes, sir. I left my lights on," I said sheepishly.
"No problem. I've got jumper cables. I'll have you up and running in no time."
Within minutes the engine purred to life. I thanked the man and offered him some money. "No thanks. But maybe you can help somebody else someday."
The very next day I was in a store at a nearby shopping mall. Over the store loudspeaker I heard, "If anyone in the store has jumper cables, there's a man on the far side of the parking lot who needs help."
I didn't want to leave the warm store, walk clear across the parking lot, and stand there in the icy cold while some stranger drained the electricity in my car and put it into his own. But then I remembered my cold, frightening experience the previous day. Maybe you can help somebody else someday.
When I reached the stranded car, the man's wife and three children were huddled inside trying to keep warm. The woman jumped out, shook my hand and asked if they could pay me for the use of my brand-new jumper cables, purchased that very morning. I smiled. "No, but maybe you can help somebody else someday."
"It's a deal!" she exclaimed as her husband started their car.
Lord, help me to keep the helping-chain going. If I'm tempted to become the broken link, give me a boost!
--Patricia Lorenz
source: Daily Guideposts, 1999 (February 3)