It is good to be reminded of something I already know. It is like polishing tarnished brass. The friction removes the accrual of common residue to reveal true luster. God is good at doing that to me from time to time.
I was recently reminded to live with an extra margin of willingness to help when I encounter another person struggling. My responsibility to God and to the other person is to help them.
We were traveling to Dallas from Mobile on Highway 98 just outside of Leakesville, Mississippi. My wife, Julie, was driving. She cried out, “Call 911! That car just lost control and went into the ditch!” The car had veered toward the median then sharply turned back toward the edge of the highway and disappeared into a steep ravine holding a good bit of water.
As I called for emergency services, Julie found a place to stop. Another vehicle had also stopped . . . a work truck with three men. Two men were already out of the truck and running down to the car.
We would discover that the driver of the car was a middle-aged woman with a physical condition that would not have allowed her to free herself from the car and certainly would have prevented her from climbing out of the ravine. Had the work truck or we been thirty seconds faster or slower, we would not have seen the accident. The woman in her car was out of sight from the highway and would have gone unnoticed.
The men did not hesitate. The woman, though shaken, was helped back to safety as emergency responders began to arrive. She wept in realization that her life had been saved by strangers. “Thank God, you saw me,” she cried.
Indeed! Thank God for reminding me of his providence. By His providence, the workmen and Julie’s timing in our respective travel was perfect. By His providence, those men demonstrated unhesitant willingness to render aid to someone they did not know. By His providence, emergency responders were quickly on the scene.
I own and operate a tree service business. As my crew worked, a customer shared a prayer that he frequents in his petitions to the Lord. “Lord, help me to never take for granted anything in this life that someone else cries out for.”
Wow . . . what a Maker’s mark. (Thank you, Peter.) May I be scarred with that mark for life. Thank you, Lord for reminding me freshly of something I already know.
May I live love out loud!
Gene and Julie Hendrix are residents of Mobile, Alabama. They have been married for 29 years and have three young adult children. Gene owns and operates a thriving tree service business in Mobile.
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