The Woman

I read this story and just wanted to share. There was an elderly woman traveling on a trip when her tire went flat. While she was sitting in her car thinking about what she was going to do she heard a tap at her window. When she turned to see who had tapped she saw a young man and was frightened, but the young man calmed her fears by saying “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.” There was no way she could have changed her own tire. Bryan had the spare tire on and the jack down in less than ten minutes. As he was tightening the lug nuts, the woman rolled down her window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn’t thank him enough for coming to her aid. Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The woman asked how much she owed him. Any price would have been all right with her. She could only think of the awful things that might have happened if Bryan hadn’t stopped. Bryan never thought twice about asking for money, even though he could have used some financial help. He just told the woman that changing a tire was not a job to him; it was a matter of helping someone in need. He told the woman 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. “And when you do,” think of me. Bryan waited until the woman started her car and drove off.  It had been a cold and depressing day, but Bryan felt good as he headed home. A few miles down the road the woman saw a small diner. The small diner didn’t look like much, she went in to grab a bite to eat and take the chill of before she made the last leg of her trip home. Her waitress brought a clean towel for the woman to dry her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that couldn’t be erased, even though she had been on her feet all day. The woman noticed that the waitress was pregnant. She wondered how someone who seemingly had so little could be so generous and kind to a stranger. Then the woman remembered Bryan and after she finished her meal, she gave the waitress a $100 bill. While the waitress went to get change, the woman slipped quietly out the door. When the waitress came back to the table, she noticed something written on a napkin. When she picked it up to read it, she noticed four $100 bills that had been left underneath it. There were tears in the waitress’s eyes when she read what the woman had written: “You don’t owe me anything. I’ve been there, too. Somebody nice helped me out, the way I’m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do: don’t let this chain of love end with you.” That night when the waitress got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the woman had written. How could the woman have known how much she and her husband needed that money? With the baby due in a month, she knew how worried her husband was. As he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered softly, “everything’s going to be all right. I love you Bryan.

Luk 6:38  Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.