I am truly blown away by the generosity of others and how God always seems to find a way to include my wife and me. My wife had been out of town for a few days in California helping her mother through eye surgery. It is a good thing to have some short separation periods, but I certainly had been missing her and was ready for her to return. She finally came home Sunday night, (actually Monday morning with all the flight delays) to my awaiting arms.
During her journey to return home, she encountered a lady in the airport in Sacramento who was traveling on the same flight as her. Through several exchanges, this lady ended up giving her a magazine to read while on the flight. Unaware of her final destination, my wife befriended this lady and made small conversation with her, which is the essence of who my wife is.
Well, as it turned out, this lady was bound for the same destination (KC) as my wife. This is where the story kind of takes on a cool twist. As we were waiting to gather the luggage at the KC Airport, my wife again encountered this lady. Being the observant woman that she is, my wife could tell that she had a problem and needed help.
As it turns out, she was traveling alone and was told that there would be a shuttle for her to take from the airport to her hotel in Overland Park. But, due to the delays in their flights, and it being so late the shuttles were gone for the night. The only other option was for her to take a taxi from the airport all the way to overland park at 12:30am. By the way, did I mention that this lady was 75 years old and traveling alone?
My wife and I talked and decided to offer her a ride since we were generally going in that direction anyway. Usually I am very reluctant to offer to travel with people I do not know, especially in our current relevant times. But we both had a calming sense about taking her to overland park, so we set off on our journey.
Turns out, this lady was in town to play tennis (did I mention she was 75 years old) for the week. She has been an avid tennis player for most of her life and teaches tennis back in California. We talked about her husband and her life back in California and her and my wife had many things in common. It was very nice to see my wife so happy and jovial when talking to this lady, it was a side of her I had not seen in a while.
We ended up showing her were the restaurants and shopping areas were around her hotel, and then we gave her a quick tour of the Sprint Campus before dropping her off. She had heard about the Sprint Campus, and stated she would like to see it in person. Since we were right there, we just gave her the 60 second tour and hopefully did it justice in her mind. It’s amazing that she heard about the Sprint Campus all the way out in California.
This is where the neat part comes in. I received an email Tuesday afternoon from a really good friend offering me 4 tickets and a parking pass to the Royal’s baseball game that very evening. Being apart from Pat for the past several weeks and having not really spent much one on one time together, it was a blessing for us to get some time out together.
I am not really sure that these two events are related or connected in any manner whatsoever, but it is just way to coincidental to not think of it that way. Either event could have happened without the other and it still would be a great gift from God, but having them both together just proves that making the right decisions and always having a heart for other people is what life is all about.
I am very thankful to my friend for offering us this night out, it was good for us. But the best part was helping this lady, with no expectation of gaining anything in return. She tried several times to pay for the gas and to give us money for dinner, but we respectfully refused and would not take anything. The reality for us was it was about 20 miles and maybe 40 minutes out of our way, which was not even an inconvenience whatsoever. For her, she probably saved $75 to $100 in taxi fees, not to mention being scared from not knowing where she was going or with whom. We did everything we could to make her feel warm and welcome and I think my wife certainly does that very well.
All in all, we know this was a good thing we did and even had we not been offered the tickets, we know we did the right thing. If I could pass on a message about this experience, it would be to let your heart lead you and know that God is with you always. Take time to show others that they matter and that God is relevant and cares about everyone. Do it because it is right and reflective of Christ, and not because you expect to gain something in return.
BTW, through various conversation topics, it turns out this lady is a Christian. We talked about our faith and our church and how God has truly blessed us and placed us on a good journey.
For His Glory,
