Because I’m a Senior Adult with a myriad of underlying health issues, I’m trying to be cautious, and I’m reluctant to do much in the way of volunteering these days. But, last week, our pastor wrote about a need that I thought I could handle. Some local helping agencies and churches are working together to provide a family resource pantry in a nearby church, to help folks who are trying to make it after losing income in these past several weeks. We got an e-mail with a list of things that are most needed. And I thought I can do that. So I copied the list to my phone and went off to Target, first putting a few rolls of toilet paper in a bag to take along, too. There was a list of needed groceries, and I found those things. There was a list of cleaning supplies, and, when I pulled my phone from my pocket to check, I saw that I had inadvertently erased the list. I called David and asked him to find the e-mail and tell me what cleaning supplies were on the list. Laundry detergent and dish soap and cleaning wipes. Got those, and went to check out.
I piled everything in the car to drive down to First Baptist Church, where people would be waiting to come to my car and take the donations. Here’s what happened next.
-
- Here’s my car in a convenience store parking lot. You can see all the bags of donations in the front passenger side seat. If you look carefully, you can see a yellow streak on the pavement, behind the car.
-
- You can see the streak that the log (stuck under the car) made when I drove into a parking lot.
-
- This is the oil slick that I made after I . . .
-
- Here’s the log. The tow truck has hoisted up the car.
-
- I needed him to come quickly, because I needed his car to get those groceries to the church, because I had milk. Here’s the line of cars that were waiting, when I arrived. In a few minutes, a woman came out with a wheeled metal cart and rolled it over to me. She pointed to the trunk, with a questioning look, and I shook my head and pointed to the front seat. She opened it up and took out the bags and said, “Thanks,” from an acceptable six feet away, and she had on a mask, too. Then I went back to the convenience store.
-
- The tow truck arrived, at last, and when he pulled up the front of the car, we could see it was that big, thick log.
OF COURSE I kept it. It’s in David’s trunk. I put the toilet paper roll on it so you can get an idea of how big that log is.
While we’d been waiting, a few people came by to ask if we needed any help, and we explained what I’d done and that a tow was on the way. If anyone laughed about it, they did it discreetly. And it was rather humorous. And, when the tow truck driver got out of the truck and looked at the situation and got ready to attach the car to the truck, a young employee came out of the store and greeted the tow truck driver. “Hi, friend!” “Hey, good to see you!”
“So, you guys are friends?” I asked. “Oh, yeah,” said the young man. “He towed my car yesterday. See it’s right over there in the grass.” Small world
While I was sitting in the car, waiting for David to arrive, I had called Jeremy and Sarah, to talk a while and to explain that I was waiting because I’d hit something with the car. We had a nice chat. Later, I called again to finish up with the rest of the story.
“It was a log, about five inches across and several inches long,” I said.
“It must have been heavy,” Jeremy said.
“It was!” I said.
“Did you keep it?” he asked
So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.
Galatians 6:9-10 (The Message Translation)
No one came to me and said, “What happened here? Could you not have swerved to miss that thing? Weren’t you paying attention to the road?” Or anything like that. It is possible, of course, that any number of folks might have been thinking it. Instead, everyone that stopped to check on us were kind and concerned. But nobody said an unkind thing.
Oh, my!!! If the wood is still in good shape, Phil might be able to make some kind of ‘souvenir’ for you from it! I’m serious!