Divine Appointments

My roommate Sarah has a thing with dessert.  She keeps a bowl of cookie dough in the fridge.  Last Tuesday night, she decided to make brownies.

We decided that it would be cool to scope out the thrift store scene in our area, since we're tired of borrowing clothes and looking like we're from the East Coast.  Her GPS was confused, but we didn't get horribly lost - we had just accidentally driven past it when we had to stop in the turn lane at a big intersection.  Did God mean for us to miss our turn?

Sarah drives a little Echo that looks like it might float away if it hit a puddle.  We were wondering why our lane wasn't moving, when the guy ahead of us pulled out and around a SUV that was stopped in the lane.  Sarah was about to do the same when a kid jumped out of the passenger's side and ran toward us, waving his hand.  We thought he might want to borrow a cell phone, since the vehicle was clearly broken down, but when he got to the window he asked if we could push them.

With our car.  Through the intersection.

It was awesome, the little car the could.  Sarah's little Echo got fender-to-bumper with a Ford Explorer and pushed it through an intersection and into a parking lot.  Well, I had to get out and push it into the parking lot, but the car made a great effort up to that point.  The kid and I got the car pushed into a parking space (very well-lighted.  I'm not an idiot.) and started trying to figure out what was wrong with it.

Fifteen minutes later, I was trying to find something not wrong with it.  We brought the Echo around and  gave the battery a jump, but after it ran a few minutes we were overwhelmed by a cloud of smoke billowing out of... well, everything.  The kid had taken the family's (there were four people in the vehicle) cash and run into the store with it.  He returned with two quarts of oil and a bottle of power steering fluid, both of which he emptied into the engine with much room to spare.  He had nothing to replace the coolant that was pouring out on the ground.

It was the image of my dad's worst nightmare.

About the time the second quart of oil went in and didn't touch the dipstick, I accepted the fact that I really had no idea what to do with the poor engine, but Sarah and I didn't want to leave them.  They were Christians, so grateful that we had stopped to help them in this city where people only look twice to cuss you out or honk their horns, constantly blessing us... and regardless, they obviously needed help.

We got the car started again (I turned it off in hopes that some of the coolant could be saved) and Sarah and I followed them the 5-6 blocks to their street.  Still, it felt wrong to leave, so I decided to leave my number with them and offer to give them a ride if they had anything really important that they needed to get to.  We made the offer, only to discover that they had been on the way to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for mother, who has a serious condition.  Five minutes later, the little Echo that could was trekking down Santa Monica Blvd. with four people squished in the back seat.  Such a brave little car...

Looking back on it, I'm not sure that it all happened.  We took them to Ralph's, where they got their prescription and did some shopping for dinner, and we had the opportunity to ask them about their lives. Turns out the accent we couldn't place wasn't from LA at all - it was definitely Queen's, New York, with the addition of a thick Greek twist.  They've been living here for five years and, to my confused amusement, they attributed our unique kindness to the fact that we're from the East Coast rather than to our faith.

Because the East Coast is so full of really nice people...

Sarah and I were practically giddy when we dropped them off and drove away - it was such a different experience that I almost don't know how to begin to talk about it.  I won't speak for Sarah, but I was incredibly humbled by the fact that God chose us to be the ones to help them.  For better or for worse, I feel the most alive when I'm helping other people, and sometimes just giving back rubs and encouraging words seems so petty.  Being the one pushing the car, checking the oil, calming the family, offering to help... I felt like a real adult and for the first time, I didn't see that as such a depressing thing.

God is great, and if I had any doubt that my time here is by His appointment, these little events along the way convince me even more.

In other news, we arrived home to the rich smell of chocolate smoke.  Christina didn't notice the brownies burning in her excitement over the chicken dinner she had prepared.  We were saved a few calories, and one of the boys' apartments got a good laugh out of the brick of brownie that we addressed to them, with love <3