Peter Kelley

My wife and I had decided to get ourselves bicycles this Christmas so we can get a little more exercise and still spend quality time together. So this afternoon we took a trip to Wal-Mart to find a pair of bicycles we would buy each other as Christmas gifts this year.
I no longer have a pickup truck, as I traded it in to get my wife a new Nissan Altima. As we were walking into the parking lot with the two mountain bikes, we began to worry if they would fit in the trunk of the car. There we were, in the rain, trying desperately to get one of the bikes in the trunk. No matter how we maneuvered the bike, we couldn’t find a way to get it inside the trunk, never mind the other bike that was still waiting to be loaded.
As I was growing frustrated from what appeared to be an impossible task in the cold rain, I heard a woman’s voice behind me, “Would you like any help? You can load the bikes into the bed of my truck and I can give one of you a lift as long as you don’t live too far. If you’d rather not, I understand. I know these days you don’t know who to trust anymore.”
I shared with her my feelings about how unfortunate it is that we must be so weary when it comes to trusting our neighbors, but that I trusted her and that she seemed like a nice enough lady to me.
I was so relieved and thankful. My wife and I took the kind woman up on her offer, letting her know how grateful we were for her generosity and sacrifice. The woman, who was with her daughter of about 10 years old jokingly said, “I can’t tell my husband,” knowing he would be concerned that she allowed my wife, a stranger, to climb into the passenger seat with her and her young daughter in the vehicle.
My wife gave the woman directions to our home about a half-mile away, and I followed behind them in our car. Once we arrived, I unloaded the bikes from the truck bed and put them into my garage. I again expressed my thankfulness to the kindhearted woman, wished her a merry Christmas, and gave her God’s blessing.

I thank the Lord that humility, compassion, and hospitality still exist in some corners of this dark world. I just wanted to post this story as a testament to how important it is to be salt and light to the earth. I don’t know the religious beliefs of the woman today, but I wanted publicly pray over her and her family; that God would bless them, that they would come to know Christ Jesus if they don’t know him already, and that they would continue to minister in whatever way God has planned. Thank you Lord for all you have done and continue to do, both large and small. In Jesus’ name, Amen.