One day a man saw an elderly lady stranded on the side of the road. Even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So, he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His old Pontiac was still sputtering as he approached her car.
Even with the smile on his face, the lady was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. She wondered, “Was he going to hurt her?” He didn’t look safe; he looked poor and hungry.
He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was those chills which only fear can put in you. He said, “I’m here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in my car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.”
As it turned out all she had was a flat tire; but, still that was bad enough. As Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, he skinned his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire to the spare, but he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.
As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down his car window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn’t thank him enough for helping her out.
Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped.
Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.
He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed. Bryan added, “And, think of me.”
He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home driving into the twilight.
A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and to take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home.
It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn’t erase.
The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but the waitress never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then, she remembered Bryan.
After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress quickly went to get change for her hundred dollar bill, but the old lady had slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back. The waitress wondered where the lady could be. Then she noticed something written on the napkin.
There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote: “You don’t owe me anything. I have been there, too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I’m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do…do not let this chain of love end with you.” Under the napkin were four more $100 bills!
Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day.
That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written and given her. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard…
She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, “Everything’s going to be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson.”
- Author Unknown
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This is an old saying; “What goes around comes around.”
That statement is important in our day-to-day lives. Explanation: The input into something is what brings out the output; hence if the input is negative, then the output will be negative. Same to our actions to others in this world.
If someone has wronged you and they deserve wrath, show them kindness. Treat others how God has treated you. Let’s have a little more mercy, grace, love, and compassion going around. Let’s have more of that going around because one day you will need it to come back around to you.
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A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. – John 13:34
There are so many things that have gone around in your life and mine that should have come back around hard on us but somehow there was a cross, nails, and blood shed so that it wouldn’t have to.
Thankfully there is grace for us because of Jesus Christ. With this reality, there is only one thing left for us to do. Because God has covered many things that should have come back around to us in Christ, we should do the same for others.
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If you liked this story and would like a copy of either of my books,
they are available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle format:
If you have a story or testimony that you think might bless others,
I invite you to send it by email to me (Kenneth Kersey) at godsotherways@me.com.
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