Good Samaritan?

Most of you know by now that I am a car nut. I love fast cars (and planes, and boats and motorcycles) and I drive a lot. Driving is a huge part of my job actually, and it has been for a very long time. I have also lived all over this great nation of ours and have been on many of her beautiful and some not so beautiful roads.

When you drive a lot you often see people with car troubles. I don't know about you, but I ALWAYS used to stop and offer help. It didn't matter if I was going to be late for a meeting or something I just felt the need to help them. Oftentimes I would stop and they would graciously thank me but tell me they were fine or help was on the way. But, there were many times I found myself helping to push a car out of an intersection or onto the shoulder. It always seemed the right thing to do.

One time I passed a car with 5 or 6 guys in it on a back country road. I was heading to school to teach a class in a part time program they were offering and they sincerely frown upon tardiness (yes, even if you are a teacher :)! ). But I saw these guys had a flat and they were all standing around like they didn't know what to do. So I stopped. A young woman on her own on a back country road stopping to help a car full of big burly, dirty guys. They were surprised.

I asked what happened and they told me their tire popped. I asked if they had a spare and they did. So I made sure they could fix it on their own before I left, thinking they must have just got the flat and were going to change it. They, however, rebutted that they had no jack. So I took a peek in their trunk and looked around...no jack. And no, they didn't hit me over the head with it and throw me in the trunk either. :)

I asked where they were heading and they told me Green Bay (where we lived at the time). I offered my jack to them if they would be gentlemen and drop it at my house when they were in Green Bay. I am sure you know where this is going, right? I never saw my jack again. Joe was ticked off at me and chewed me out but I still helped them didn't I?

That incident sat heavy in my heart and there were a few times in the months following it where I could have helped someone and didn't stop. Maybe I was a little angry at being taken advantage of. Maybe I was nervous at what could happen next time. Maybe I just didn't want to help anymore.

Cell phones have always played a big part in my diminishing efforts to help stranded motorists. These days i assume everyone has a cell phone and can call the nearest tow truck or service shop for help. They can probably do a better job helping than I could. but what if that person doesn't have a phone? What if it's a young woman alone on a back country road? Shouldn't I make the effort just to make sure they are ok? I don't know.

I had an opportunity this morning to help someone. He wasn't stranded on the side of the road, he was in the grocery check out line in front of me. I dropped our kids off at school and felt like making a big breakfast for myself. I've been feeling pretty good lately and just wanted a nice big plate of home fixins. So I grabbed some tomatoes (my favorite food in the world...period), bacon and even a cream filled doughnut. I made my way to the check out and only one register was open. There weren't a lot of people in the grocer this morning. So this guy was in front of me with two gallons of milk. That was it. That was all he was buying. He had a credit card or maybe a debit card and it was declined. Twice. All I had to say was, "Oh, I can get that for you." It was $6.14. Not some huge grocery bill of a couple hundred dollars. $6.14. And I didn't open my mouth. He said to the cashier, "Well then, I guess I can't get it." And without missing a beat she said ok and started voiding the sale. He walked swiftly away...to the restroom. And then she rang up my $13 of extra things I felt like having this morning while his two gallons of milk sat on the counter behind her to get put back on the shelf.

I had missed an opportunity. An opportunity to help someone. Maybe he has more money than I do, maybe he is broke. I don't know and it doesn't matter. There was a fellow person in need and I didn't speak up. I did nothing. And now, I'm just not hungry anymore.

Dear God,

Thank you for music.

I don't no how many of you no this but other than my publishing company with all the cars and all the airplanes, I direct 4 choirs and lead a prays band. And music to me has to be the best source of inspiration and emotion other than the human mind.

To think that there are only so many notes that the human ear can hear. And from just those few notes so much beauty, power and inspiration can rise. Music can transport you. It can take you anywhere and lead you to anything. It can move, bend and twist your very soul. What other things does humanity offer than can give you so much in so little?

It's little wonder that the iPod has been so successful and the Walkman before that. We can bring our music with us anywhere. Our lives need soundtracks just like in musicals. Have you ever been doing something and you just want to burst out in song? If not, then you should! we do it all the time.

Like being in a movie there can be an exciting rhythmic beat when we wake up in the morning and shower, something more calm as we go to work, quiet inspirational music throughout the day, something to rock out to on the way home and love songs when we get there.

Music heals. It soothes. It sets moods. Angry, happy, sad, needy, desperate. Beauty is music.

Thank you God.

PS Thank you God for spell check!