I
went to UT Tyler hospital to visits a member on Friday. I parked in the garage and was walking just
outside the parking garage when a woman called over to me. She was asking me a question from the parking
garage entrance. I could tell she
thought I worked there. My first thought
was, “well great.” But then I thought I
might be able to help her because I do come here often. When I got close, she explained that her car
was missing. I was thinking, a long time
ago my car was stolen and it’s a weird feeling.
She went on to explain that she parked in the handicap spot next to the
elevator, but her car was gone now.
Several ideas ran through my mind.
One was it towed by the hospital, did someone steal it, or did she park
it somewhere else? Yea but now I was
part of the search for a solution.
I thought that towed by the hospital was the most
likely, but she explained that the car was marked with a handicap sticker. Then I also thought, I have no idea who to
ask at the hospital about it being towed.
Then she explained that she had arrived two days before and her husband
was in the ICU. She had been there
either two or three days and had not slept much. My thought was “I just got back from Japan
and was jet lagging hard.” Our combined
IQ was suspect at this point. But it
then occurred to me, it was really likely that she just did not remember where
she parked. Time to go on a search.
So, I suggested we go for a
walk. Let’s go up to the last place you
saw the car. My mom taught me to look in
the last place I remembered something. She
said by the bridge that goes over to the hospital. So up we went and sure enough her car was not
there. All the while she was telling me
about the experience of coming to the hospital and her concern. I was thinking, this is apparently a pastoral
call while looking for a car. After some
walking around and my brain kicked in, I asked if I could borrow her keys. I had an idea - push the panic button and see
if the car honked. I pushed the button
and you could hear the car, but not see it.
Humm, I leaned over the side of the parking garage to see was it up or
down. Answer; down for sure. So, we took the stairs down one level. It took a bit, because now I understood why
she had a handicap parking sticker.
We came out of the 2nd
floor and I pushed the button and her car was right there. It honked and flashed lights. She was excited, stating, “Hey that’s my
car!” I returned her keys and she was on
her way. Jesus states in Mathew 5: 41 “And whoever compels you to go one
mile, go with him two.” This is from the
sermon on the mount. The ethical call of
Jesus for the kingdom of God. I doubt
this took me very long, but it meant something to this tired woman. It was not in fact not my job, and when she
first asked, I was thinking how do I get out of this? But our ethical call is to be there for one
another. Jesus calls us to be aware of
divine appointments. To love others as
ourselves. It was a small thing for me,
and something important to a disorientated person. May we all pay attention to our diving
appoints.
Pastor Pat
