Offerings of Help
Hi dear bloggers...I'm behind posting my articles due to a wonderful trip to CA this last week and a half! More to come about that, with pictures. Thanks for being patient. God bless you, Judy & Al too
Ever heard of a “Booket” Brigade? A short news segment about the owner of a bookstore in Chelsea, Michigan caught our attention. Chelsea, about 60 miles northwest of Detroit, was established in 1834. It is an attractive town with a population of about 5,300, located along a picturesque creek.
After Al’s mother was interred in a
nearby cemetery several years ago, her family gathered for lunch at a highly
recommended Smokehouse BBQ in Chelsea. And, yes, the food was good!
How did Chelsea make the news? The owner of a local
bookstore decided to relocate to a larger building after 18 years of operation.
Since the new location was within walking distance, she put out a plea to the
townspeople for help. Her idea was to have volunteers form a bucket brigade of
books to move them from one place to the other.
After advertising, she really
didn’t know what was going to happen. Much to her amazement and joy, over 300
people showed up on the morning of the event, enough to make a double line
along the sidewalk all the way to the new place! They stood side by side,
handing books from one person to another until the old store was empty and the
new one full. All in all, about 9,000 books were moved by the volunteers, who
seemed happy to be able to support one of their own community members.
More and more often these days, Al
and I find ourselves receiving help from others. For example, at the end of our
Caribbean cruise in mid-March, we were bussed to the Fort Lauderdale airport. Once
inside the busy terminal, I approached a woman wearing an official looking
uniform and asked how to get wheelchair assistance.
“I can help you,” she said. “Just
follow me.”
It turned out that her name was
Claudia, and she worked with the company that aided travelers with special needs!
Claudia provided a wheelchair for Al, then proceeded to a kiosk where she
quickly entered our information and checked us in to the correct flight. Then,
she obtained our boarding passes and led us to the front of the line of people
waiting to go through the security checkpoint.
Once there, it took some time for
both Al and me to pass through the inspections, due to the metal in our bodies
that always arouse the suspicions of the TSA. Claudia stayed with us and helped
collect our belongings as they passed through the x-ray machine. She found a
pair of sunglasses lying on the floor and put them near the plastic bins on the
conveyor belt, in hopes that someone would come back and claim them.
Earlier, I noticed a woman wearing
sunglasses who was also in a wheelchair ahead of us in the line. Perhaps the
lost glasses belonged to her; but by that time, she and her family had left the
area. I just happened to spot a group of people, with someone in a wheelchair
some distance away and hurried to catch up with them, sunglasses in hand.
After checking in her purse, the
woman realized that her sunglasses were missing and thanked me profusely for
bringing them to her. Then I hurried back to Al and Claudia, and explained why
I had left so suddenly.
Claudia walked us briskly to the gate, where
she left us and went to assist someone else.
“I’ll be back when it’s time to board the
plane,” she said.
There were eleven people in
wheelchairs on that flight, keeping the people in the agency very busy! Without
her help, we wouldn’t have had any extra time to spare nor would we have been
so stress-free!
I often think of followers of Jesus as funnels
of his grace to others. We receive from Jesus freely…and thankfully…and then we
in turn extend his grace in its many forms to those around us—friends, family,
and often strangers. It is always inspiring to be on the receiving end of help,
but also uplifting to be able to give it when needed!
“You yourselves know that these
hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In
everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the
weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘It is more blessed to
give than to receive.’” (Acts
20: 34-35 NIV. The apostle Paul’s farewell speech to Christians in Ephesus.)
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