Shopping and Helping

Hello,

It was an uneventful shopping trip. Except for noting that the wind was much freer and biting close to the stores than it was by my house as well as in the park when we walked in much colder temperatures at -8 F.

In the grocery store there was quite a long line of people waiting to check out. One tall slim young man had failed to get a cart. In this store you must put a quarter in a slot to retrieve a cart. He had quite a number of items. It defied the imagination to figure out how he had gotten to the line without dropping things all over the store. At this point he had his future purchases resting on a freezer case. The couple ahead of me asked him if he did not want to get in line. “Oh I will wait until the line is shorter,” he smiled and said.

“But I can help you,” I urged knowing that he had been there before I came up.

So when it was possible I, with the addition of the woman ahead of me, helped him get things on the check out line.

Later as I was heading for my car I saw him walking across the parking lot with his three bags and a bucket of ice cream dangling from the ends of his long arms.

“I wonder to where he is walking?” I thought, knowing that no homes were close.

Just as I got out to the car he turned back, spied me, or perhaps he was loitering about waiting for me in the frigid place with no hat, gloves, and really not an adequate jacket. It was just a zippered sweatshirt that the wind does not respect. He asked “Would you give me a ride around the corner?”

“I certainly will,” I replied as I was loading my purchases into the car, “Put those two bags that are on the floor in the front in the back to give yourself more room. I will return this cart and be right back.”

The ride to his apartment was probably close to a mile or maybe even more. He was so thin it seems to me the cold must be especially penetrating. It would have been a frightful walk.

He did comment, “I did not know it was so cold so I did not wear a coat.” Then he went on to tell me that he had moved from Chicago in January. He needed to go to the library this afternoon and he wondered if I could give him $1.25 to ride the bus.

“I usually walk there, but it is too cold today,” he said.

I am not sure how far it is to the library from this spot, but I would guess that it is about 2-3 miles or maybe even more. I can not imagine walking that far in some of this weather. Our morning walk is really a walk in the park. It was probably only a little over a mile and we were bundled to the limit of mobility.

So that was my good deed for the day. I did say in my prayers that God could use me today. Was this it?

Paula