Three Seconds To Make A Difference

Sometimes we can get so caught up in going forward we miss opportunities right in front of us. This happened a few years ago... On our way to church we seen a car parked on the side of the road. About a 1/2 mile up we passed an elderly man walking, so we turned the car around and asked if he needed a ride. He said, "No I lost my cellphone off the roof of my car last night so I'm going to retrace my steps and try to find it." The total distance would have been 10 miles. So we drove on and a few miles down the road we seen it, laying in the middle of the lane, so Ray hopped out and retrieved it, it was perfectly unharmed! So we turned the car around again and pulled up along side of the elderly gentleman rolled down the window and Ray asked him, "Does this look familiar?" To that the elderly man replied as his eyes lit up and a smile beamed across his face, "Yes Sir it sure does" was his response. We asked if we could give him a ride back to his car and he said he'd greatly appreciate it. He thanked us and we turned the car around again and headed to church. The kids kept repeating over and over again how happy they were we were able to help him. I heard a pastor one time say you have 3 seconds to decide if you want to help meet a need before the busyness of life can talk you out of it. In the back of my mind I knew the time we left the house we would just make it to church on time, and our schedule would not allow us to make a u-turn, when we ended up making 4! Sometimes we need to not let time (or lack of) and busyness dictate our decisions, we need to just meet the needs of random strangers, knowing small acts of kindness can make a world of difference in someone else's life, especially our own. I love being Christ's hands and feet and leading by example for our kids to see this played out in our own lives. I always tell people there are needs everywhere that need to be met, you just have to have eyes open enough to see them,  and a heart and hands willing to fulfill them. We pulled into the church parking lot at 9:00 exactly. I loved the message was about how Jesus humbled himself and washed the disciples feet. He saw a need and he met the need.