If someone asked me what my all time favorite movie is it would have to be the old Christmas classic, "It's a Wonderful life." Every time I watch that movie things seem to come into proper perspective. What I do to invest in helping people does matter, and it does make a difference.
In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I was running to grab an oil change on our hefty suburban yesterday. On the way I passed by a broken down car on the side of the road with it's hood up. "Bummer" I muttered to myself as I rolled by taking a glance to see if they needed help. Too busy to stop and too dangerous I told myself. I wondered if I had missed an opportunity to help someone and make a difference.
Two blocks later at the car dealer, the mood seemed to be somber. I tried my best to strike up a conversation with the parts guy. "How's your day?" I asked cheerfully. "It's okay...just okay."
He seemed distant. I didn't want to really dig any more so I moved on thinking about why I didn't say something else to give him hope.
I grabbed an empty desk out front in the show room (now vacant due to slumping car sales) and I went to work on kamp calls waiting for the oil change. After working a few minutes, the salesman behind me on the phone broke down and begin to sob. Everyone in the lobby of the dealership just kind of pretended that it wasn't happening as he tried to limp through the call. I thought to myself, "Why doesn't someone check on him?" Maybe I should I thought, but then again I don't even know the guy. My named was called and my car was ready so I moved on.
As I drove out of the lot I couldn't make it more than a block without stopping. I turned around and went back to talk to the emotional salesman. He was gone. I left him a note with my name and number and told him to call me if I could do anything. The Holy Spirit had finally got my attention to follow through it just seemed too late.
I left the dealership feeling a better, but still felt I had missed several opportunities to stop what I was doing and start what God was doing (like trying to get my attention to help some folks). I hadn't driven 3 blocks when I saw a man stopped in the middle of the road. His pickup had lost a pallet of shingles and they were everywhere on the road.
I finally got it.
I wasn't going to miss this one. I jumped out and asked if he wanted some help to re-stack the shingles, and we started to reloading. I was met by another may who quickly jumped out and the three of us made quick work of the mess.
I reflected as I pulled away driving back to the office.
God never promised that our life and our walk with Him would be easy...but He did promise that our life could make a difference. We don't have to look very far to see hurting folks who need an encouraging word, a cheerful smile, or even a little bit of extra muscle.
Know that when Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians, he was probably thinking of George Bailey and the rest of us. We all have an opportunity to walk in good works that the Lord has prepared in advance (see Ephesians 2:10). It bugs me that it took 2 or 3 for me to be reminded that God was granting me opportunities to make a difference. Hope you get it more quickly than I did yesterday.
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