This was the weekend my friend was supposed to travel from the metro New York area to the Lancaster County area. And then the weather reports started to come in.
Major bummer. It’s hard to see each other these days as she lives in New York and I live in Pennsylvania. However, we didn’t think it wise driving through storm and snow.
As I ended my phone call with her, both of us wishing each other to be safe in the snow and ice, I found myself thinking two things…one was about our adventures together in years past…and the second was how much in our past we relied on the kindness of strangers.
Back in the day, I don’t think I would have let a few inches of promised snow to get in my way. In fact, in our travels together, I usually talked my friend into driving through snow storms, rain storms, and unknown roads. I think I had a simple belief, “We’ll be safe. No problem!”
One road trip that we shared that comes to mind was on our way from her house in Rockland County to our college in Binghamton, NY. I was driving and we were low on gas. We stopped to “filler’ up!” and realized that the town we stopped in had no gas, no electricity, and no passage on the highway. A major accident on the road took these things away. The adventure that ensued included VERY vague detour directions, to take windy, narrow back roads, steep ditches on either side, and the gas light blinking. At one point my friend famously said,
“I can’t believe it….your mom is going to be right…we are going to end up dead in a ditch!”
As the gas light continued to blink at us and the E for empty seemed to grow in size, my anxiety shot through the roof of the car. Plus, the vague directions we were given 25 miles back seemed to have run their course. We were lost. There were no handy dandy GPS units or even cell phones in our possession. At one point we drove near a house and there was a fish symbol hanging near the front door.
At once my friend pointed and yelled, “Hey those are your people! You should ask them for directions!”
Normally, I wouldn’t go up to stranger’s door, but…maybe these strangers were “my people”…that is kind, understanding, and would take time for someone in need.
I didn’t ask them about their faith, but I DID ask them if they could point us the way to Binghamton and more importantly the way to the nearest gas station. These strangers pointed the way to both.
Thank the Lord!
My friend and I still laugh about that trip. And almost 20 years have gone by since that adventure where we relied on the kindness of strangers to point the way.
As an adult with a spouse, a child, a full-time job in pastoring others, a mortgage, two cars, and monthly student loan bills, I am less adventurous.
I am less willing to rely on the kindness of strangers. But sometimes I wonder if I’m missing out by not being as adventurous, by being so self-reliant that I might just miss the kindness of others.
There was a song that was really popular on my local radio station called “Kindness of Strangers”…the lyrics have been echoing in my head this weekend.
How does the unexpected kindness of strangers change things?
