Yaaaauweeel

It’s fun to find yourself in the right place at the right time with just the right thing you need to help someone whose options are very thin. That happened to me yesterday. I saw a man having trouble. His car wouldn’t start. It was full of children. I saw him looking around. He didn’t know what to do. I asked him if he needed a “jump.”

“Yes,” he said.

“Do you have cables?” I asked.

He looked. “No, I don’t.”

“Let me see if I do.” I did.

“I hope you said your prayers this morning,” I say, clumsily trying to insert into the conversation that the heart motive behind my benevolence is the love Jesus put in my heart for people.

“Here let’s push your car back so we can get to it.”

Dan and Wes jump out of the car and we start to push it back. My thumbs are under the slightly opened hood. The boys place all four hands squarely on the hood and push hard pinning my thumbs under the hood.

“Yaaaauweeel” I scream and jerk upward. My pen flies from my pocket adding to the comic effect. The boys jump back in surprise and valiantly suppress laughter when they see I am not seriously injured.

After a little collective head-scratching we get the cables into place. The guy’s car starts immediately. He smiles broadly and extends a hand to each of us in warm gratitude.

It’s fun when God places you in just the right place at just the right time with just the right thing you need to help someone who needs you.

Except for my thumbs, I drove away feeling glad.

Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
March 31, 2009