Giving Christian Charity...Well, Sorta'

Sunday night, while driving out of our subdivision in a rush to get somewhere and back again, we pulled up behind an idling vehicle in the middle of the road. It appeared the driver was waving us around, but as we pulled out to pass him it became clear he was frantically trying to get our attention.

"Jeez...I hope he's not going to shoot us and throw our bodies into the desert," I whispered as Thomas backed up. Sometimes I'm a fatalist trapped in an optimist's body.

The man jumped out of his car armed only with a sheet of paper. "I need directions. I have been driving around here for an hour trying to find my friend's house. It's on the corner of Los Logos Vista and Lobo. I'm from Georgia, and I'm helping in his store while he's at market, and I printed out directions to the store, but not from the store to his house, and I've been driving around for an HOUR..."

I think he could have gone on for a while. He seemed a little frustrated and scattered, so Mr. Wicke gently interjected. "Yeah, we can give you directions."

"Oh, that's great. I'm not kidding, I have been driving around and around this place."

"Okay, you're going to head back down this street and then take a right..."

This was obviously going to take a while. I quickly made a determination and said to Mr. Wicke, "You know what, honey? Why don't we just lead him there?" Then leaning over and sticking my head out of the driver's side window said, "Hey, why don't you just follow us in your car. We'll drive you there."

And right then I felt pretty good about us. I mean here we were in a hurry with no time to waste but were still willing to go out of our way to help someone. This was a "What would Jesus do?" sort of moment for sure.

It was also a moment that didn't last long. "Wait a second. There's Lobo. Does Los Logos Vista run all the way through?"

"I don't know."

"I thought that intersection was over where the Hatch's live. Oh, crap! What if we can't find it? Poor guy, he may end up regretting this."

"Let's keep going. We'll find it."

"I hope so. Shoot, no...that Boca. That's where I thought it was."

"Is Lobo at the end?"

"I don't know. Okay, Esmerelda...Wesley...Hah! There it is Boca! Shwew! He'll never know we were sorta lost."

"Um...yeah...but...where is he?"

We turned to look out the back window only to see black asphalt in the soft glow of our brake lights.

"Where'd he go?"

"I don't know."

Depite turning around and winding our way back through the neighborhood we never did find him. Poor fella'.

Yeah, I think, generally, Jesus does a better job than that.