As some of you know, I serve our local police as a motorist assistance volunteer. Last night we were called to a disabled vehicle. We used to call these 10-46, but nowadays we just say disabled vehicle and everyone seems to understand. We were told the car was somewhere near Pouncey Tract and the entrance to the major shopping and entertainment complex at Short Pump Downtown. After driving through the intersection, we found a young man waving us down.

We circled through the parking lot, and rolled up on a typical econobox sedan from Japan. The good samaritan had stopped before we arrived and tried to help the driver. He shared a bit of her story, and told us the battery was dead. We pulled our jump box out in hopes of starting the car to move it out of that major exit street of the local shopping venue where it was blocking straight across traffic and left turns. We thanked the young man, who politely returned to the disabled motorist to wish her well, and to say that she was in good hands. There was something about him that told me his spirit was at peace, and he knew his place in this world.

A newly-graduated college-educated driver was in the car. We worked with her to attempt to start the car. In opening the hood I saw battery terminal corrosion. I loosened and moved the cable end, but that didn’t help. The jump box started the car but once removed the car died. Clearly something major was amiss. I looked over at the alternator and saw the pulley. No belt, just the pulley with a few bits of rubber shredded nearby. Wow. The belt had disintegrated and the young lady had driven on the battery. Until it died. I explained the situation to the driver, that a tow was necessary, and she needed someone to come to her location to take her home.

The young lady punched a few numbers on the iPhone and began yelling into it, speakerphone style. Her vocal inflections were dismissive, disruptive, and disjointed. At a point of extreme communication, she simply mashed the big red button to hang up on her resource.

We jumped the car again and kept the jump box connected so she could reverse the car in the travel lane towards our cruiser. This was to move it far enough away for a wrecker to grab it from the front without blocking the major road. She didn’t know how to call a wrecker so we suggested that she ask a friend to come get her at the nearby Arby’s and we would call a wrecker. Again, we saw her yelling at someone, then hanging up abruptly. In a few minutes she came to our unit and said her mom had called a wrecker. Didn’t we just say that we would call the wrecker?

So, we cancelled our wrecker and let her mom’s wrecker come. Turns out that she has no money, her mom has no money, but that this wrecker driver will tow the car all the way across town and wait until mom is paid this week to receive his money. That’s wonderful. Mom is creative and compassionate. The street will be cleared, and no one is out the tow fee plus daily storage fees until you come up with the tow fee.

Your mom? She is still caring for you, a college grad, while you wander around town with no money, and no awareness of the idiot light on your dash that showed a battery discharging. You yell at your mom “Y’all have to come pick me up!” And, I kid you not, she hung up on her mom at least four times.

The Bible has something to say about parents. We can find it in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 5, verse 16. It’s the first commandment that has a stated benefit. It reads “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” I’m grateful that this young person’s mom looked beyond her daughter’s emotional abuse, and cared for her regardless. Our Heavenly Father promises to do the same for us. No matter what. You can read this in the book of Hebrews, chapter 13, verses 5 and 6. It’s everywhere in the Bible, God’s love for us. I especially like Romans 5:8…”But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Wow.

Let me know if you’d like to know Christ personally. I would be happy to share the Easter story with you.