One day a man saw an old lady stranded on the side of the
road.
Even in the dim light of day he could see she needed help.
So he pulled in front of her Mercedes car, and got out of his
old Pinto.
Even though his car was barely running, he wanted to help
her out.
Though this man had a smile on his face, the old lady was worried.
For no one had stopped to help for the last hour or so.
Was this man going to hurt her?
He didn't look safe; he looked poor and hungry.
The man could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold.
He knew how she felt, for it was that kind of cold, which could
put fear into you.
He said, "I'm here to help you, ma'am, why don't you wait in the car where it's
warm?
By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson."
All this old lady had was a flat tire on her car, but for her that was bad
enough.
Bryan crawled
under the car looking for a place to put the jack.
In the process of doing so he skinned his knuckles a time or
two.
However, soon he was able to change the tire for her, even
though he had to get his hands dirty and they hurt.
As he was tightening up the lug nuts, the old lady rolled down the window and
began to talk to him.
She told him that she was from St.
Louis, and was only just passing through this town. She said she couldn't thank him enough for
coming to her aid.
Bryan just smiled as he closed the
trunk lid to her car.
The lady asked him how much she owed him.
She said any amount he charged would have been all right
with her.
For she had already imagined all the awful things that could
have happened to her had he not stopped.
However, Bryan
never thought twice about being paid.
Changing this tire for her was not a job for him.
Instead, he was helping someone in need, and God knows there
are plenty of people who had given him a hand in the past.
He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred
to him to act in any other way but through love and charity.
Bryan told her that if she really
wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she
could give that person the assistance they needed.
Then Bryan added
these words, "Remember to think of me and how I helped you today."
He waited until she had started her car and drove off.
It had been a cold and depressing day so far, but he felt
good as he headed home after helping her, when he was disappearing into the
twilight.
A few miles down the road the old lady saw a small cafe.
She went into it to grab a bite to eat, and to take the
chill off of her before she made the last leg of her trip home.
It was a dingy looking restaurant inside.
Outside were two old gas pumps.
The whole scene was unfamiliar to her.
The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her
wet hair from the rain outside.
This waitress had a sweet smile on her face, one that even
being on her
feet for the whole day, couldn't erase.
The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months
pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches she felt change her attitude.
The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be
so kind to her, and be so giving to a stranger.
Then she remembered Bryan's
kindness earlier with the flat tire on her car.
After the old lady finished her meal, she paid the waitress with a hundred
dollar bill.
The waitress quickly went to get change for her hundred
dollar bill, but the old lady had slipped right out of the restaurant.
She was gone by the time the waitress came back.
The waitress wondered where the old lady could be.
Then she noticed something written on the napkin, which was
on the table.
There were tears in her eyes when she read what the old lady wrote:
"You don't owe me anything.
I have been where you are today.
Someone recently helped me out, the way that I want to help
you now.
If you really want to pay me back, here is what you need to do:
Do not let this chain of love and charity end with you."
Under the napkin were four more $100 bills.
Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but
the waitress did make it through that day.
That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed,
she was thinking about the money, and what the old lady had written.
How could this lady have known how much she and her husband
needed it?
With the baby they were about to have next month, it was
going to be hard....
She knew how worried her husband was.
When she climbed into bed next to him as he was sleeping,
she gave him a tender kiss and whispered soft and low in his ear,
"Everything's going to be all right, I love you, Bryan
Anderson."
There is an old saying......"What goes around comes around."
Today we have sent you this story, and at Jacob's House we are
asking you to pass it on.
Let your light and charity shine before all men.
Therefore, pass this story onto as many people and friends as you can.
For good friends are like stars....You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.
THEREFORE WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND AND GOD KNOWS YOUR PLIGHT TODAY
