Opportunity Taken

I had just arrived at a local Speedway filling station to put gas in my mom’s car. It can be a little bit confusing for her to negotiate it all. With Dad in assisted living, she has been relearning once-familiar things, and today I was helping her out.

I was pumping gas when another car rushed quickly up to the pump on the other side. The window rolled down, and the woman who was driving, maybe 30 years old, leaned over the passenger seat and said, “Hey, mister, I’m looking for someone to pay for some gas, I’m totally empty and only have a dollar.”

I thought to myself, I’m looking for someone to pay for my gas, too, more than a little suspicious. Something didn’t feel honest here, but after a long moment, I blurted out, “I’ll give you $25 worth.” Without thanks or appreciation, she exited her car and came around to stand next to me as I filled my own car. It was bitterly cold out.

“Where are you headed?” I asked.

“Going to Kentucky, I got a brother and sister there,” she answered.

“Funny you’re asking me for help,” I said. “That’s what I’m doing right now, helping an elderly woman (my mom) get gas for her car. Why don’t you get back in your car, it's freezing out here."

She agreed, and I thought she returned to her car while I finished filling my own tank. The whole exchange felt suspect, but I’d already said I’d help. When I finished, I moved across to her side, just in time to see her returning from the Speedway store with a Big Gulp in one hand and a handful of snacks in the other. She placed them on her front seat.

Only a dollar, huh? I judgingly thought to myself.

She came up to the pump as I activated my card and I began pumping the promised $25 into her tank. “Visiting your brother and sister, huh?”

“Yep, gotta pick-em up. Yep, our mom died last month, and we gotta get her in the ground.” That was a jarring thing to say, I thought, more convinced I was being sold a bill of goods.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said.

“Yeah, it happens. What’s worse, we ain’t got the money to get it done.” Yep, I thought, here it comes. “Say… you wouldn’t want to donate to our burial fund, would you? Maybe $75 or $100, I can take Venmo, or cash.  We’re planning on getting a Go Fund Me page going, but it ain’t ready, yet.”

I kept my eye on the fuel pump as it approached the $25 mark. “I think I’ll just give you the $25 for gas, right now,” as I put the nozzle back into the armature, “but would you mind if I prayed for you?” 

“What?” She said, surprised.

“Would you let me pray for you?” I answered. 

“Ah, yeah, I guess,” she said.

“What’s your name?”

“Felicia,” she answered, bowing her head. Ok, here we go, get her, God! I thought to myself. This is where it all changes.

I prayed a short simple prayer of comfort and peace over Felicia and her siblings. I asked for safety on the roads. For the presence of the Lord to be felt. I took a breath because I had more to pray, but right away she chimed in, saying, “Amen!” and before I knew what was happening she had jumped into her car, started the engine and peeled off as quickly as she arrived.

I was shocked. I’ve never been walked out on while I was still praying. “What the heck, God? I mean, right in the middle of my prayer, even? You were supposed to do something!” As I stood there rehearsing what had just happened, I thought I heard the Lord say, "Opportunity taken." Huh?

But then the Scripture passage came to mind:  “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will yield a harvest if we do not give up…” (Gal 6:9). That’s usually where I stop when quoting that verse.

But it was verse 10 that was being emphasized to me:  “Therefore, as you have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of God.

Ok, I guess I see that. “As you have opportunity, do good to all people” Even someone like Felicia, who I knew was scamming me. “All people” means all people. Dang, that’s a little harder to do. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy to grow weary doing it.

Doing good without expectation of something in return is rarely how I think. Though I had acted kindly, I was suspicious, reluctant, looking for a different outcome, but God knows how to sow His seeds. Point made, “Opportunity taken."

Well, carry on, Felicia. The Father who loves you found an opportunity to do good and He acted. I want to do that with a better heart posture next time. Because there will be a next time.

When was the last time you “looked to do good” when it wasn’t convenient? When it felt undeserved or costly? Let’s look to do good to “all” people, not just “our” people. What opportunities are you seeing?