Stranger Things

Last Tuesday was full to say the least. I needed to get the kids to school, find some time to vote, get to an important session that I was facilitating, squeeze in a few Zoom calls, somehow make it to my eldest child’s state playoff game, and celebrate her birthday that evening with a halfway-decent dinner. My wife, Tricia, and I developed a plan and set to work. Everything was on track until my afternoon session finished. I got a call, a voicemail, and then a text from Tricia.

While picking up some birthday cupcakes, she encountered an elderly woman who was laying on the sidewalk, unable to get up. Her husband, already wobbly on his feet, couldn’t help her and was forbidden from driving. No surprise, my saintly wife not only called 911, but also stayed with the couple until the ambulance arrived, drove the husband to the hospital, and took their car keys and phone number promising that we could get them and their car back to their house when needed.

Her detour required a hectic end to my session, canceling my Zoom call, and frantically calling my kids’ schools to let them know that I would be late for their pickup. As I exceeded the speed limit on the highway, the pace of my thoughts intensified and I started blaming my wife’s goodness for disrupting our plan on such a busy day. “Why couldn’t she just leave when the ambulance got there?”

Even though we got to the game, cupcakes and all, in time for a victory, I was still annoyed and wanted nothing more than to decompress on my couch at the end of the day. As we began to watch the election returns, the husband called to say his wife was being discharged from the hospital and would be ready around 10pm. He offered that they could figure it out, but Tricia would not have it. My 17-year-old birthday girl drove me to the scene of the accident so I could drive their car to their home while Tricia set out for the hospital to bring them home.

As I drove a random stranger’s car to their home in the opposite direction of my own, I couldn’t help but wonder, “What am I doing? Who does this?” When Tricia arrived, the couple needed a lot of help getting from the few feet of our car to their front door. Helping to lift the injured woman, I could tell I was causing her more pain. Their modest home was not set up for an elderly couple and certainly not one with now broken bones. As they talked about their adult children who were not in the area and unable to help, my thoughts turned from “What am I doing?” to “What more can I do?” As Tricia gently got the woman settled into her recliner, I looked through kitchen cabinets for a few necessary items. I began to feel uncomfortable leaving. As we wished them well and they thanked us profusely, my eyes began to well with tears. Driving home, we were both quiet. “Now you know why I couldn’t leave,” Tricia said. I haven’t stopped thinking about that couple and how many others are living without a net.

As we pass countless strangers in this life, how willing are we to invest in each other? Sure, we’d do anything for our family or friends. We volunteer in drives and service projects that benefit others. But how far are we willing to be inconvenienced - to volunteer not on our terms, but on the Lord’s? No matter how strange it might appear to the world, what sacrifices would we make for a stranger?

It’s no secret that my wife is a much better person than I am. The real secret is how she’s gotten her heart to be that big – to see people for who they are, even if they’re a stranger. After almost 19 years of marriage, I think I have learned, though, that it’s not who they might be to Tricia, but who Tricia knows they are to the Lord. What “strange” thing might you do for a stranger this week? Prayers that you keep your eyes and your hearts open to the invitation.