GLOBAL ODYSSEY 2010 BLOG #5: A TEST?

By traveling, we rush into LIFE, rather than standing still and letting it approach us. The more people you meet, the more situations you’re in, the more you are tested…. And sometimes it is difficult to impossible to know whether you’ve passed or failed.

We were behind schedule (surprised?) after the previous night’s stop at Suwanee, GA (thank you Carlos & Mary Kay, for your wonderful hospitality) and a bout of last-minute purchases at Walmart. Because of what we had been told about expensive gas in Florida, we stopped at the Sam’s Club in Ocala to “fill ‘er up.”

Out of the shadows came a man, cleanly if thinly, dressed for the unseasonal weather – it was definitely on the cool side for Florida. After apologies, he explained that his truck had broken down on the highway, and that he had been trying to fix it with no luck. He said, his wife and kid were back there and had nothing to eat. He had called his brother in Texas about renting them a room at a local motel, but there was no answer…. You get the picture.

OK, first, let’s ask you as a Christian and/or principled human being, what would you have done? Slightly implausible story, but no signs of inebriation. You don’t want to give a panhandler money, but neither would most of us like to be stuck on the side of the highway in a dead truck with nothing to eat. We’re way behind on reaching Fort Lauderdale, so there is really no time to investigate. Again, what would you have done? It’s a test – but of what – credulity? Charity? There’s no right answer, at least from the facts we’re given. Got your answer?

Well, here’s ours. The man might or might not have been telling a story. If so, more shame to him. So he gets something. At the same time, it’s not like we could see the car in the ditch, so we couldn’t be ruled by our senses like the time Sam – who never picks up hitchhikers – picked up a man whose car had obviously skidded off the road. So he doesn’t get the price of a motel room. “I’ll scrub your car with a toothbrush if I have to!” Those were his words, and we thought they had the ring of truth. He didn’t have to. We gave him $8, which we figured should cover a fast food meal for his family and represented all the dollars Sam had in his pocket. If he needed more help, the same God who brought him across our path at Sam’s Club would supply. If he wasn’t genuine, then at least the damage was limited.

Carlos Solera, who kindly put us up on our drive to Florida, had an interesting take on travel – that if we’re gems, it’s an activity which does the polishing. Whether this incident revealed a facet or flaw we leave to you and to God ….