the man

It was cold and it was raining.

Not a Texas rain of an inch in 30 minutes, but a slow drizzle rain typical of the coastal north west.

The man was driving home. He was a good ways from home yet, but his car was warm and it would be a pleasant if grey ride. Then the engine missed. He had not expected that, but he knew the meaning.

And then the engine quit altogether.

The man noticed a road side gas station ahead, the kind with a small convenience store, and an equally small fast food joint. Not unusual at all up in his part of the country.

He coasted to a stop right in front of a phone booth. In an era of cell phones it was empty. He had given his cell phone to his wife that morning, hers was not working properly, but the phone booth only contained a very small light bulb. It was amazing that it was even there.

But as he stared into the darkness, he saw something hovering in the cold was a young woman. She was crying.

The man, an old guy with white hair was properly judged to be trustworthy. He inquired. She did not want to have her children see her cry. She poured out her story through her tears.

She had left her abusive husband, she was on her way to her parents some hours from where she had been living, she had just put her last money into gas for the car, it was not enough to get them to their destination and her three children had not eaten all day.

The man pulled out a twenty, gave it to the oldest child and sent them to the fast food joint to get that much food for them. They ate like hungry animals. He had the woman drive up to the gas pump and using his credit card he filled her tank with gas.

He reached in his wallet and there were two twenties left. He gave them to her for any expenses she might have on the rest of her trip. Her thanks was profuse and heart felt. She drove off into the night.

The man was out of cash now, it was still raining, he was wet and cold and his car was dead. He sat there for a few minutes hoping for a bit of warmth, and without thinking, really, he put the key in the ignition, turned the key and the engine purred to life.

I am a christian, I believe in miracles, but I am also a bit road weary and skeptical. Everything that we refer to as a miracle is not, and I do not know if this was or not.

What I do know is that the man saw the incident as a opportunity to help another human, He took that opportunity, at some inconvenience and expense to himself.

The story teller was a man I have known a long time. He is a gentle, kind man. A biologist by training and education, he later was the president of the small college I once attended. He did not identify the man in the story.

But I am sure that it was an autobiographical story. Yet he told it with such humility and care that it could not possibly be boasting even if it was him.

The incident, he said, was an opportunity to help, and the man, whoever he was, took that opportunity.

Thank you.