This morning a parcel arrived for a neighbour. Normally, one or more of us would run it over to them right away. But this wasn’t a normal day.
A number of urgent jobs took far longer than planned, and soon it was getting dark. As I walked into the house, I saw the parcel and didn’t realise the next thought I had could have led to someone dying.
“We will sort it tomorow”
It was cold & drizzling with rain – the neighbour may not even be there. I was sore, we were all tired & cold.
But thankfully, I listened to the second thought: ‘no let’s do it now’… (I didn’t know that my son had already determined it needed to be done tonight too). Neither of us knew what situation was about to transpire…
He took the parcel over and found the elderly neighbour, cold, shivering and locked out of her house. She is unsteady on her feet, can’t see more than a few metres and had given up. She realised it was going to be a long cold and potentially terminal night.
She had started gathering all the cushions she could find off the outdoor chairs and was trying to use them as a blanket to stay warm. It wasn’t working – already down to 12º and falling.
My son was able to get her up, open the door, get her inside & put on the heater. After reporting to me what had happened, I felt to take her some fresh chicken & vegetable soup my wife had just made. Again, I nearly listened to my own reasoning: “that’s weird, she won’t want it, she will be ok”.
But I couldn’t shake the thought – I warmed it up & a few of us drove over there. To say she was thankful is a huge understatement. Still cold, she couldn’t get to the soup quick enough, us still in disbelief of how it could have turned out.
A bit long winded, but a reminder that:
– God cares – He really does orchestrate things to care for people…He *loves* people & cares so deeply He feels what they feel. He weeps with and for them. He is giving people a chance to know Him by delaying His return. Please consider His offer & share it with others…
– We can (and should) care, reach out & check out on those around us – in our families and neighbourhoods. There are frail, elderly, hurting, sick, struggling, addicted, lonely and depressed people all around us. Whether physically, emotionally, financially or spiritually, there is no greater love (or reward) than helping, serving and laying our lives down for others.