rain, cameras, and a sad beginning
Friday, January 28, 2005 at 07:45PM This morning I woke up at around 4:30, ready to go. Last night we were able to get almost two thirds of the scriptural interpretations done for Life Source's fall quarter. I came home and after a little wrestling match with Caleb I was ready to get on to bed.
(i ramble)
I got in the car around 5:30 AM. I stopped at the TigerMart to get some coffee and a little breakfast. When I walked in the store I saw a young 20something girl. It was obvious that she was distress. Stains from tears shed through the night. She had a large duffle bag, a back pack and another overnight case surrounding her. She just looked devestated.
It's a young lady, i thought. Remember the Billy Graham rule- stay away from even the hint of compromise. But then a Sunday School picture of the Good Samaritan flashed across my mind. You know she needs help. BUT I have a shoot to work, I reminded myself. No time, I concluded in the voice of the Levite.
By the time I get back in the car to pull out of the station I am literally battling the spiritual forces of apathy. Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy. my prayer. I put the brakes on and went back to the Tigermark parking lot. I walked in and said, "Do you need something?" She nods. "can you give me a ride?"
"Car trouble?" I ask.
"No. It's my husband," the girl says.
"Where is it that I need to take you?"
"It's not far," She said.
I flashed my lifeway ID. I said, "Just so you'll know. I am a LifeWay employee. I've got four boys and a wife. Just didn't want you to be afraid I'm a serial killer or something."
She smiled and profusely thanked me. I helped her get her bags in my car. she stepped into the car and as I prepared to pull out of the lot and large white truck blocked me in. An athletic young man stepped out and opened my door. (car still rolling)
Lord Jesus Son of God have Mercy. I thought.
He was a handsome and yet trecherous young man. very angry... He demanded that I get out of the car. Then he screamed. "Get her out and you get out of here!" (Baptist version) I looked at her and thought to myself, "If I wouldn't have hesitated the first time I walked into that store I could have helped her get away. Now I was forced to retreat.
Shaken I drove away, reminded of how screwed up life is. And how helpless i am to solve anything. I made it through the video shoot and all the challenges of directing, creating, acting, begging, and encouraging.
After the day long shoot ended, my thoughts returned to the 5:30 AM encounter. Transfixed like a sudden teleportation into the recent past, I wept. Compartmentalization is a temporary arrangement between the mind and the soul.
Again I observed all the oppression that takes place in our world. I saw the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them. The oppressors have great power, and the victims are helpless. So I concluded that the dead are better off than the living. And most fortunate of all are those who were never born. For they have never seen all the evil that is done in our world.
Ecclesiastes 4 (NLT)
Reader Comments (3)
my thoughts were that this whole scenario played out the exact way God had planned. something happened in your heart, the heart of the young girl you were reaching out to (how many people passed her by without so much as an inquiry?) and the young man, as obviously upset as he was...you showed love, compassion. mercy. tenderness.
and even though you wept, i would still say to you "well done, my good and faithful one. well done."
Can I get one of those Lifeway IDs. What a great way to pick up chicks....
And John. You are one sick puppy:-)