Blessed from the Most Unlikely

Yesterday, I sat out to have a day of fun and sun with my girls and a couple of their friends at the Schlitterbahn water park in New Braunfels. We got off to a late start, but none-the-less we were a bunch of giggling girls traveling down the highway, singing fun songs, and having a good time.

We decided to stop just outside of San Antonio to eat before getting to the water park. We enjoyed our lunch then hopped back in the car all smiles knowing our next stop was Schitterbahn.

Well . . . the car would not start. Nothing would come on! I tried a couple of times . . . NOTHING!!!

Being the mechanic that I am . . . NOT  . . . I just knew it was the battery, so I asked a lady nearby for a jump. She was there with a car full of kids, after she got them situated she came and jumped my car. She was kind, but still NOTHING!!! What? Doesn’t this car know we have a water park to conquer and we don’t have time for this silliness. Seriously!!!

By this time, I knew I had to call hubby. What were we to do? Just a side note — I’ve decided car trouble shuts down my brain. (hubby would agree) We called the auto insurance company so they could hook us up with the appropriate people. Now mind you this was going to mean me leaving the four girls that were there with me at the burger place, while I rode with the towing company to the auto place. (I thought this was a crazy plan, but yet our only plan for a moment.)

This long story is going to be reduced for your sake . . .

Hubby calls back and tells us to walk over to a nearby truck stop and see if anyone can come and take a look at our battery. He felt certain it was our battery too. Two of the girls walked over to the truck stop while the rest of us stayed with the car, hood up, sitting in the hot sun. (no one offers to help us damsels in distress) The girls talked to cops, sheriffs, and men in the truck stop and NO ONE tried to help or even cared. As they turned to walk out of the truck stop feeling defeated my daughter says,

“I guess no one here cares to help us!”

A man coming into the stop overheard her and asked what she needed help with. She explained the situation. The man spoke better Spanish than English, luckily the friend with my daughter spoke Spanish so she became the translator. This man left what he was doing and came to take a look at the car. He too felt certain it was the battery.

He said we needed to jump it. I explained we already did. He said we needed to jump it again, but he didn’t have jumper cables with him and he couldn’t drive his 18-wheeler over to where we were. So, in his broken English he finds a taxi driver to use his jumper cables and sends me to a woman to ask her to pull her car over so we could jump off of her.

Hallelujah, it was the battery!

When all was said and done and I tried to pay this dear man for helping us he said in his broken English, “I asked God to show me what good thing I could do today. He sent me to you. You are my good thing!”

This man was so sweet that I had tears in my eyes by the time he left. We made it to Schlitterbahn and as I floated around the Lazy River 47 times in my float that afternoon my thoughts kept going back to how we were blessed from the most unlikely person we ran into all day. He didn’t have all the right tools or even a language we could understand, but yet he was willing to slow down, step out of his routine, and go out of his way to lend a helping hand.

That man’s example made me think of my own life. How many times do I say or think “well, I don’t know enough to help out there? or I’m not gifted in that area? or I really don’t have time right now? or I don’t know enough about your culture to help? or how about I’M TOO BUSY?”

Because that man had asked God to be his hands and feet that day when God presented an opportunity, he easily recognized it and said, “because You say so” I’ll help.

Because God says so, may we always be the most unlikely people to step out of our routines and show up to be Jesus’ hands and feet when needed.