Good News For Youth (GNFY) published under the oversight of the Alkire Rd Church of Christ elders and posted by permission of the editor.
Joe was driving home one evening on a two lane country road. Ever since the
factory closed, he’d been looking for work, and with winter coming on, the
chill had finally hit home. Work, in this small Midwestern community, was almost
as slow as his beat-up Pontiac. But he never quit looking.
This was a lonely road but Joe knew it so well that he could almost drive it with his eyes closed. It was starting to get dark and light snow flurries were coming down. Suddenly, he came upon an old lady stranded on the roadside. He pulled his Pontiac in front of her Mercedes and got out.
Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help
for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe; he
looked poor and hungry. He said, "I’m here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t
you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Joe."
All she had was a flat tire and Joe wasted no time changing it. He skinned his knuckles a time or two and also got dirty in the process. After he finished, she rolled down her window and thanked him. Joe just smiled and said, "I’m glad to be of service, ma’am."
She asked him how much she owed him. Joe never thought twice about the money. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and plenty had given him a hand in the past. Joe had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way. He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give the assistance they needed. Then Joe added, "And think of me."
The lady got back on the road and headed for home. A few miles down the road, the lady saw a small café. She went inside to grab a bite to eat and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip. Her waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. The waitress had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn’t erase. The lady noticed that the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she didn’t seem to let the stress and strain change her attitude. The old lady wondered how some who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Joe.
After the lady finished her meal, and the waitress went to get her change
from a hundred-dollar bill, the lady slipped out the door. She was gone by the
time the waitress came back. She noticed that the lady had written something on
a napkin. There were tears in her eyes when she read it. It said, "You don’t
owe me a thing. I’ve been there too. Someone once helped me out the way I’m
helping you out. If you really want to pay me back, here’s what you do. Don’t
let the chain of love end with you."
Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day.
That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was still thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed the help? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard.
She knew how worried her husband was. Yet, as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered sweetly into his ear, "Everything is going to be all right. I love you, Joe."
-– Selected, January 2000 –-
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