Right after Christmas I wrote an article called Hear Your Neighbor in 2010. The thrust of the article was getting to know the people we see every day in our normal course of activities; you know, the people you see at the gas station, library, grocery store, post office etc.
On the way home from my favorite place, the Tigard Library, I stopped to pick up a Mega Bucks. I asked Mikey, one of the nice people who work behind the counter at the Lil' Brick Deli, how her Christmas was. She lit up like a Christmas tree. She said her Christmas was great! Instead of hurrying to my car I stopped and asked why her Christmas was so great. She told me a friend had fixed her car. I didn't know she had a car because I had always seen her riding the bus.
Apparently one of the mechanics at our local AMCO station had arranged earlier in the year to fix her car's engine. (It sounded like a complete over haul.) For the past several months, as the work progressed, she had been paying for the cost of parts. As it coincidentally happened he finished her car just before Christmas and called her to come pick it up. Automobile parts are costly, but labor is where the real expense is. She was happy to be getting her car back, but she was also expecting a huge bill. Instead of a bill for the labor of several months, she was told simply, Merry Christmas.
Maybe you think I am silly for being so happy to learn about a local hero like the mechanic at our AMCO station. I don't care if I am silly or not. It makes me feel good. I don't have to watch the National News to learn about a good deed that was done several thousand miles away. I don't have to watch the local News to hear about a good deed done for someone in Portland. Good things are happening in my own little world and I only have to ask. Every time I drive by the AMCO station I will thank God for the nice man who fixed Mikey's car.
I am happy Mikey can now choose whether or not to ride the bus, instead of not having a choice. I am also glad I stopped to ask. As I wrote in my previous article, I hope in this coming year we can all take a minute to explore the many untold stories that fill our world. They are untold because we don't take a very few minutes to simply ask. All of the untold stories are not happy like this one, but maybe the person holding the story inside needs to get it out. Maybe God has chosen you to be their hero.
We are all surrounded by people and their stories. We don't need to tune in to reality television or log on to Facebook. We only need to speak to the people who already populate our world.
The world is indeed shrinking. We are fast becoming a global community, which is fine, but this does not mean we give up the great blessing of getting to know a little about the people the Bible calls our neighbors.
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