Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? Mark 8:18
My wife and I traveled to the beach this past weekend to attend the wedding of a young lady we have known since she was a small girl. It was great to see her family and catch up from too many years apart. While driving through some small towns on our trip, we stopped for a break and to get gas. After pumping gas into our car, we began to pull away and continue the last hour of our trip. As I began moving the car, a man approached our car and asked me to stop. I rolled the window down expecting him to ask for directions. Instead, he began telling me quite a sad story of his misfortune for the day. I immediately began thinking he was working toward asking for money and I was getting my excuse ready. I half heartedly listened as he went on to tell me the story about his day and the sequence of sad events that had lead him to our meeting. He told me he was at home recovering from his recent chemotherapy treatment when he received a call that his wife, while out with friends, had been rushed to the hospital. He left his house in a rush only to find a flat tire on his truck. He ran back into the house, grabbed the keys to his wife’s car, and sped away to the hospital. After driving to about the midpoint of his trip he realized his wife’s car was running out of gas. He pulled into the gas station where he and I would meet to fill the tank, only to realize he had left his wallet at home. Now he was too far from home to return for the wallet but had an empty tank of gas that would not reach the hospital. While he was talking, I did not have a very positive attitude. In my mind I was saying to myself, “Why are you using all your stories on me at once?” I looked over to my wife after hearing the sad facts of what I was certain was a “made up” story, and she said, “Sir, let us put some gas in your car”. I walked with him to his car but still without a good attitude. I reluctantly pulled my debit card from my wallet just as he opened his car door and said, “Wait, don’t do anything else.” I stopped and looked at him just as he said, “There’s my wallet, I have been sitting on it.” Suddenly, I saw what he really was. A man that was actually recovering from chemotherapy while getting the frightening news of his wife suddenly being ill. I found out his name was Gary and I told him I knew he was in a hurry but I would say a prayer for him as I continued on my trip. As I reached to shake his hand, he said, “I better not touch your hand. I am getting over a stomach virus”.
As I walked away, I wished I had seen him with the same eyes I saw him with after he found his wallet. He was not a scam artist looking to trick me out of a few dollars but was a nice man who was in a desperate moment of life. I wish I had not been so worried about letting another man beat me out of a few dollars and had truly seen him as God was seeing him at the same moment. As I drove, I did say a prayer and ask God to take care of all of Gary’s many problems. I also asked God to help me see people the way He sees them. I asked Him to show me how to treat people in those situations the way He would and to not worry about if their story is true. I also thanked Him for giving me a wife that sees people in a more positive way than her husband!
Chad
