I'm still trying to figure out what just happened...
After my small group tonight, I went out with two of my friends to the Snow Goose. On the way home, I noticed that my gas gauge was reading low. (Does anybody else do the "naw-I-can-make-it-until-tomorrow" game the same way that I do?) After a short argument with myself, I decided to stop at the Chevron near my house to fill up.
While gassing up, I noticed two men on the other island trying to start a van with one of those pre-charged jumper/compressor things. As I filled up my Suby, I watched the two men attempt, to no avail, to start the van.
It's cold tonight in Anchor-town tonight. 6 degrees or so.
After a few minutes, I walked over to the guys and asked if there was anything I could do to help. The two men had apparently just met at the gas station themselves. One was an Asian man with a thick accent and the other was a white guy who had a weird speech impediment or something. The white guy informed me that he was trying to help the Asian man jump-start his van, which had died while sitting at the gas pump. The van was an older model (80's??) Dodge and had definitely seen better days. While trying to help start the Dodge van with his charger/compressor, his own car (a new 2010 Chevy Eqinox) had also died. Apparently this was his first attempt to drive it since he drove up with his new wife from Delaware in April and the battery was not up to the challenge offered by the cold Alaskan night.
I have never seen two cars with dead batteries at the same gas station before.
I told the guys that my house was 2 minutes away, and that I didn't mind going home to grab my jumper cables. The white guys (rather sheepishly) said that it would be very nice if I was able to help them out. I jumped in my car and headed home.
** Total side note: ever since I installed subs in my car two weeks ago, I cannot stop listening to rap and hip-hop music. Tonight's Pandora mix was brought to you by Tupac, The Fugees, and Jay-Z. It was totally refreshing for me, musically speaking, but, MAN, I wish they didn't swear so much. Gratuitous cursing makes people sound like idiots. One well-placed "swear" word can (operative word, can) be an effective tool at driving home a serious point, but constant swearing makes people sound like they have absolutely no linguistic skills. But I digress...
As I pulled back into the gas station, I decided to pull up to the Chevy Equinox first. I figured it had the best chance at starting and I was in the mood for a success. After 15 or 20 seconds of charging, the car fired up without a problem. I unhooked the jumpers and drove over to the van. As I pulled up to the van, I noticed that HE ALREADY HAD JUMPERS HANGING FROM HIS BATTERY!! Why the heck did I drive home first if he already had cables? Oh, well. As I starting working with the Asian man to hook up the cables, the white guy walked up and handed me $20 for my help. I tried three times to politely turn him down, but he assured me that he knew I would have done it for free, but he wanted to show me his appreciation. I politely accepted the $20 and turned back to the Dodge Van.
After we hooked up the cables, I knew I had a few minutes to kill while we waited for the battery to charge. I asked the man his name, and he told me (in very broken English) that it was Suh. I kept asking some basic questions while we waited. He immigrated from South Korea in 2001, and he had no family in America. He has worked in the restaurant industry for the last 9 years, but was recently fired because they thought he was too old and no longer of any use. Suh is 67 years old. Without me asking him, he informed me that he was living in his van.
Seriously? In 6 degree weather? In his van??
As an Anchorage pastor, I have some information and access to services in the city that could be of benefit to Suh. Despite my repeated offers and encouragement, he assured me that he wanted to stay in his van overnight. I asked him if he had food, and he told me that he went to McDonald's in the morning and the Downtown Soup Kitchen in the evening. City Church is an official DSK partner and I was glad to know that money I had helped (with the pastoral staff) to decide to send to them was helping this man I had just met.
I can't describe to you the spirit that this man had. Despite his broken English, he was communicating to me a grateful attitude and an optimistic spirit. We all could learn a thing or two from Suh.
I told him that I was a pastor and that Jesus loved him and that our church had ways to help him out, especially when it comes to food. He told me that he had just started visiting a Korean church in town and he was very thankful for them. I told him to please call me tomorrow afternoon so I could follow up with him and offer help and assistance.
After a few parting pleasantries, I sat down in my car and drove away. I looked over on my passenger seat...and there was the $20 bill from the Chevy guy. Why did I forget?!? I should have given it to Suh.
I'm still trying to wrestle through what exactly just happened in the middle of the night at a Chevron near my house. I can't exactly describe it, but it was significant for me. It's very easy to pass by a couple of people in a situation like I witnessed tonight and do nothing, but for some reason I felt compelled to step in. In situations like this, I never know who is the real beneficiary, myself or the people I helped. I really wish that I had more insight into the whole thing.
I don't know the final story. All I know is that this once, I was faithful to what God asked me to do. I'm hopeful that there will be many more opportunities like this.
No comments:
Post a Comment