Racing the Storm

Those of us who have lived in Texas for any amount of time know that the weather can change dramatically from day to day. A couple of weeks ago, we had one of those big, Texas-sized storms roll in.  It took over the news, tracking the storms that were descending upon our area, Tornado watches in effect. All predictions pointed to it passing through right at my ‘favorite’ time of day (SO not my favorite time of day)…carpool.

My kids are in 3 different schools.  After picking up the second child, the sky started to change.  We raced to get child number three as it grew dark and ominous and began to sprinkle.  I was really anxious, not freaked out, but anxious to get the kids inside before the worst hit. Any one of my kids was liable to get upset about a possible tornado and burst into tears, which I never knew were contagious until I had children.   At every stoplight, I was checking the radar on my phone. A huge storm was coming in, most of it red, with large areas of purple, and within those, areas of black. Uh-Oh. We still had to get to my oldest daughter’s school, and then drive back about eight minutes on a good day (but who’s counting?).  She has OCD, ADHD, and is on the spectrum…anxiety is an everyday issue, change is unwelcome.   So when she texts me, “Where are you? It is raining.”, it could be matter of fact, or she may be starting a major meltdown.

From my estimations, we might be able to get home just before the ’red’ area pushed through.  If a tornado was part of it, we would have a couple of minutes, tops, to get ready, and I was already making preparations in my head.  We would need to run in, empty the laundry from our tiny laundry room. I would need to make sure I had my phone. Grab the lantern and flashlight from the garage, hopefully there would be a total of three, one for each child to avoid fighting or crying.  Grab a book or something to distract them with…and yet, say none of this until we are closer to home, no need to scare the kids unnecessarily.

Zooming as fast as I was able to get away with down a major street in our town,  we raced to get my daughter.  This area has the winding sidewalks running alongside the road with nice landscaping and the occasional park bench. I did a double-take at something that seemed very odd considering the weather:  I saw a woman walking down the sidewalk. She was not in exercise clothes, as was common on these trails; she was dressed in normal clothes, in a coat, walking on the sidewalk that wound back and forth beside the road in the middle of suburbia, and fairly far from any store or bus stop. It seemed that no matter where she was going, she had a ways to go. (Local friends; this was on Lake Forest about half way between Eldorado and Virginia).

I drove on wondering about her, and hoping she would make it to her destination before the storm hit. I only saw her for a moment, but I thought I recognized her as being a cashier at one of the grocery stores.  I remembered her fondly because each time we saw her, she was always going above and beyond to help us out, always so friendly.  So, I guessed she was headed to the grocery store on the corner, still a long ways off for her.  Yep, poor thing must be having to walk to her shift, rain or shine. Times are hard.

I thought about picking her  up. I knew it was not normally a good idea, I knew my husband would not approve.  If I were alone, it was one thing, but I also had my children with me- that added quite a wrinkle.   My crazy head was thinking, “Well, she appeared to be a lady about my age, possibly even someone I am familiar with…even if it’s not her, how harmful could she be?…“  then every Lifetime movie ran through my head;   “…or, it is a man dressed as a woman, just waiting for a victim!  No, no, not in this weather, they wouldn’t plan that…”   But right now, I had to pick up my daughter. I knew she’d be relieved to get picked up, to stop her “What ifs” that were undoubtedly rolling around in her head and possibly landing on anyone around her.

We picked up my daughter , who seemed oblivious to anything  outside of the four sides of her phone screen, so that was a relief.  We raced back towards home, back down the same street. By now, it just looked downright creepy outside.  I was still trying to estimate if we would make it inside before the bottom fell out of the clouds. Cars were racing around, the typical pedestrians had vanished from the area, and everyone was, I assume, heading for shelter.

Still, I was so curious now, I watched for the lady like a hawk, not knowing WHAT I would do if I saw her. THEN what?

The kids would ask me questions, and I would say, “Not now, I need to pay attention because of the weather.”  I kind of hoped not to see her, because I still wasn’t sure of what was the right thing to do. I didn’t want them to know that I was thinking of picking up the lady, they might hold me to it!  What if I saw her and decided that it was poor judgement? How could I say, "nah! She's fine! Lets take care of ourselves. Someone else will help her.  Ignore all those times that I've told you to stop putting yourselves first."

We rounded the bend and there she was. I had been watching for her to be walking quickly, even panicked and jogging a little down the sidewalk.  I can’t tell you how surprised I was at what I saw, it was so surreal.

She was just sitting there on a park bench. What in the world!? I would have expected her to speed up, keep hiking. Who would just sit at a time like this!?! I would be about to cry. Was someone on their way to get her any minute now?

I did a U-turn and pulled up beside her, rolling down the window, about to say, “HEY!! We know you!!  You are always so nice to us at the store. Can we please give you a ride?” As I opened my mouth, I saw it was a stranger.

Oh.  Now what?  I was scrambling, wondering what to say now…maybe I shouldn’t let her in our van?

“Are you OK?”  I asked her.  Now I could see her better. She was sitting on the bench, sort of slumped back; not unlady-like, but kind of sprawled out across half of the bench, looking more exhausted than making herself at home.  There was the book she had been cradling resting on the other half of the bench.   “Yes…," she giggled and seemed to think for a minute…”yes.”

Oh my goodness, should I take her? I don’t know her!

“Really? You are ok!?!”  I asked, unconvinced by her answer, and unconvinced of how to move forward.   “I’m worried about you being out here like this, can we give you a ride somewhere?”

She said, “I was just trying to make it to the library.”  GASP! She’s not even close, at least for someone walking!!

I told her to “Get in, we’ll take  you!”  and she gathered what I now saw was a large leather Bible, hugged it to her chest, and approached the car. I couldn’t help but wonder if this African-American lady was thinking, “LORD, what am I getting into?!? This white lady is picking me up, this van is filthy!  I don’t want to be rude, but I may hold my breath the whole way…three kids, a mom that doesn’t appear to have had a shower today, (she’d be correct), and what looks like a layer of dog fur ALL over the carpet? Crumbs, backpacks…”  I was so embarrassed. Although I had been wishing for a chance to get the van cleaned after taking Elvis to the groomer, it never occurred to me that my van needed to be ready to greet a stranger, to put them at ease, to drive onto the mission field right in our own neighborhood.

I introduced my brood, and she said something about Joy’s name…something about how she could see that Joy really spread Joy everywhere she went with that sweet face.  As usual, I said, “Yep, her name fits her perfectly because God named her.”

I found out that her name was Donna.   She said something like, “Well, I guess it’s because I’ve not done my walk  lately, but I just couldn’t go any further.”    I got the impression that walking was part of her routine, but that recently she had been ill or something.  I told her it was perfect, that I was glad we came along so she wouldn’t have to walk. She replied very calmly, “You were my angel today.”

I asked, “I see your bible, do you go to church around here?”

“Well, until I came here a few weeks ago, I was at The Potter’s House.”

“Oh, I’ve heard good things about that church! We go to Christ Fellowship.  It’s right around the corner…on Eldorado and Orchid? It looks like a big church, but really, I’m always impressed that somehow it feels smaller. You walk in and know everyone, everyone is so nice and down to earth, and it really feels like family.  You should come check it out sometime.”

She answered, “Well, they must be nice, because here you are giving me a ride.”

We pulled up to the library and said our goodbyes. I thanked her for letting us drive her.  She got out and headed for the door. Josie smiled at me and said, “Mom, that was really cool.  Thanks for doing that.”  I instantly beamed and panicked all at once, thinking, “OH NO, I’ve just taught her that it’s wonderful to pick up strangers…we’ll have to talk about this!!”  So I began lecture 6, 571,

“Well, Josie, I’m glad we did that, but actually, I don’t know if that was really a good idea, because…”

We watched as Miss Donna stepped under the overhang. In that instant, before she even made it the two steps through the door, the bottom fell out of the sky. It was sprinkling one minute, and then pouring down rain, lightning and thunder the next.  We all looked at each other big eyed, and erupted with screams of surprise and excitement. It  was unbelievable, one minute later and she would’ve been caught in the storm!  Was that a coincidence? It sure didn’t seem like it.

We drove away and I was ecstatic. Funny, my goal was to make it home before this so that the kids didn’t have to unload in the storm.   Now, I really didn’t care. Wow. Why was I so happy?  I did one thing for one person, and I was so excited.  Pathetic! Had it been so long since I reached out to help someone? I should be doing things for others all the time!

And then, I wondered…wait. Maybe I DO serve others all the time. I care for my family. I wouldn’t say I do a great job, but I try;  all the laundry, dishes, hugs for hurts, snuggles, teacher emails, late night homework sessions, nursing them through every virus known to suburbia over the last months…It FEELS like it’s nothing,  but I guess it’s something.  I must remember that even the humdrum moments are service

 I really wrestled with sharing this story. I know we are to do good for others, not when everyone is looking, or for credit…but I have been SO compelled to write about it ever since, that I have to wonder if He is nudging, wanting to use the story somehow, if someone needs to hear it.

I have thought about Miss Donna so many times!  Why didn’t I get her number, offer her a ride to church on Sunday, offer to sit with her?  Did she just have some health issue that caused her to move in with a relative nearby?  Something that made it difficult for her to walk or breathe?  Did her family know she was walking all the way to the library?  Why the library? For free internet to email family?  Did she have a ride home?  (I asked her that and she said that she did.)  I retraced the path out of curiosity; it was 1.6 miles from the point where we picked her up, and who knows how long she had been walking already.
Did she visit our church?   Oh, I hope she did, and I hope someone noticed her and made her feel welcome. I hope she didn’t make it all the way there unnoticed.  Did she get sick? Oh, I hope my van didn’t make her sick, one of the kids was sick the very next day.

I’ve often wondered why she was just sitting there when a storm was coming!? Was she just so defeated that she couldn’t go on? Or did she sit to pray, to ask Him for help. Did she have such strong faith that she knew that just by asking and trusting, that God would care for her? Maybe she knew to pray when she needs Him (Ask…, seek…, knock…! Matthew 7:7) I often find myself struggling with something difficult and then realize, “I forgot to pray about it!”

Thinking about it now, it reminds me about Jesus sleeping on the boat, while the disciples cried out in fear about the storm that was coming.  They woke him and asked how could he sleep at a time like this. He rebuked them for not having faith and ordered the seas to “Be Still”.  (Matthew 8)   We forget that He’s got this. We can worry, we can race around, but guess what? All of my worries were pointless. My children were fine. I was being a “ye of little faith-er” trying to predict anything, manage everything, but controlling nothing.

Maybe  I need to open my eyes more for opportunities to serve others.   Usually, I learn more than they do.     Most of all, I need to then have the faith that He will use me to do what is best in the storm.