The incident

I had left my small Retirement apartment in a big city to go and visit with my son and his daughter to celebrate his 70th birthday. I knew the city streets and toll way and small city streets that would take me to his home in the small suburban city that was a little more than 60 miles away. I made the trip alright and we enjoyed a few hours of nice fellowship and some pizza before I left to return to my apartment. His wife was nervous because I had decided to drive back after it got dark, but I indicated that I would be OK as long as I could see the street signs in these small cities. Well I turned onto the first street that I came to and immediately recognized that it was the wrong street, although I hadn’t been able to see the street sign. In my effort to turn around, I missed judged the width of the shoulder next to the road way, and my right front wheel ended up in a ditch. This put my car in a tilt with the left rear drive wheel two feet off of the pavement while the right rear drive wheel was still on the pavement. I tried to back my car up to get the front wheel out of the ditch, but the right drive wheel didn’t have enough traction to move my car backwards. As I was calling my son to come and help me out of the ditch, a stranger pulled up and asked if I needed some help. I said “Yes” I needed to get my front wheel out of the ditch. He asked if my car had front-wheel or rear-wheel drive, and I indicated that it was rear driven. He got in the driver’s seat and his big size added enough weight in my car to give the single drive wheel on the pavement enough traction to pull my front wheel out of the ditch so that my car was now completely back on the roadway where I could continue my way home on the right roads, and I did not have to call for son’s help or to get a tow truck to pull my car out of the ditch. Of course I thanked him, but he left quickly as I forgot to give him any money for his help. I think that the Lord quickly brought him to me when it became evident that I was going to need some help to get back on the roadway.

The meaning and application of this experience

As I reflected on this episode, it became evident to me that the help of a big stranger can be very beneficial in some situations in which our unwise decisions place us, and my loving heavenly “Father” was caring enough to send me this big stranger who was exactly the right helper that I needed in my situation. As I gave further thought to this episode in my life, I realized that the relationships that we enjoy with various “brothers” and “sisters” in God’s family and even with those individuals who may be outside of HIs family and our familiar group of friends can be very good sources of practical help when we get ourselves in some “ditch” of trouble, and they don’t have to be professional helpers that we would have to employ to help us. It is a great blessing to be part of human family of relatives and a divine family of God’s children who are pledged to the ministry of helping and encouraging other individuals in or out of these families with their personal problems and needs.

Let’s talk about this

When have you had such an experience of being helped by a stranger or a family member when you were in some situation of concern from which you could not help yourself? How did you feel when someone freely helped you? How did such an experience prepare you to be more helpful toward others whom you might encounter in some routine daily outing that was not a normal part of your daily experiences with other relatives or friends? Did such an experience draw you closer to God and your “brothers” and “sisters” in Christ as members of God’s personal “family”? Let’s talk about this.