the spirit of serving

So check this out...

The other day, actually night, I did something I rarely do. I stopped and picked up someone walking down the road. It was a woman. She was by herself. I had my wife and one of our children in the car with me. We were headed to eat somewhere (didn't know where because that is a tough decision for two people to make, add a child and it really gets tough!). We offered the woman a ride and she hesitantly accepted. When we asked where she was going, she said she didn't know. We offered to take her anywhere she wanted to go but she was not sure what to do. She was on her phone trying to find a friend or anyone who would help her. As she got in the car, we told here we were going to eat and offered to take her with us. I started driving to a restaurant and told her we would buy her dinner. She politely refused but still didn't know where we should take her. So I kept driving. She finally decided that we should take her to her friend's work place. So we did. She thanked us and said she would take us up on the dinner another time.

Here is where it got interesting.

Our child remarked that the woman scared her. We asked her why and she said she didn't know if the woman was going to be mean or not. We began to explain that we would never do anything that would put her in danger. We told her that we were relying on God to lead us in the decision to pick up the woman and even though we did not really discuss it, we just both felt like we should pick her up. We tried to explain how God works in our heart and speaks through His Spirit. That's a tough concept for anyone, let alone a young child.

Here's the thing.

Serving is not always easy to explain. It's just something we know we should do when the opportunity presents itself. The key is being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and obedient when He leads. It's not easy. We miss it sometimes. But when it happens, we find peace, a sense of fulfillment, and sometimes even the opportunity to teach others.

I bet my kid will never forget the night we picked up a stranger, gave her a ride, and offered to buy her dinner. I hope my child will do the same type of things for others when God leads.