Qualities that build enduring love

While living in Chicago I did not have a car and relied on public transportation to get around. One Saturday afternoon a friend and I were waiting for a bus to pick us up. Numerous apps on your phone can tell you how many minutes it will be until the next bus arrives. I kept refreshing my app and it was clear the buses were running behind. I began to get frustrated because my friend and I were running behind… and I had a date planned that evening (spoiler alert: I would later marry this girl).

We were standing at the bus stop, chatting, refreshing the app, when all of a sudden we heard a loud “POP.” We looked behind us and saw a car had driven too close to the curb and shredded the tire. I turned to my friend and said, “That’s unfortunate,” and went back to refreshing the app eager to have the bus arrive. My friend turned to me and said, “Blake, we should go and help that person.” I responded, “We could…” with a hesitant tone hoping that the idea would be dropped. He then said to me, “Blake, it is our Christian duty to help this person.” I realized I did not have a good response to that and said, “Okay, let’s go help this person.” At that moment, I saw the bus approaching and realized I was going to be very late for my date.

I walked up to the side of the car and saw a woman crying in the front seat. I tapped on the glass, and she rolled the window down. I said, “I saw what happened to your tire and it will need to be changed. Would you like us to help with that?” She said, “Yes!” It turned out that she had two daughters who were fighting in the back seat while she was driving. The mom turned around to ask them to stop and, in the process, pulled her car too close to the curb. My friend and I changed her tire, the woman thanked us, and the two of us went back to the bus stop waiting for the next bus to arrive.

Our Scripture today says, “imitate God.” I think this is one of the hardest things for followers of Jesus to accept. It is easy to know how to share the love of Jesus, but it is another thing to imitate that love. Additionally, we are called to not let our destructive thoughts, agendas, and attitudes determine our actions. I believe that if my friend had not kept telling me to help this woman with the flat tire, I would not have helped her that day. It was through his persistence and desire to be the hands and feet of Jesus, that an authentic act of love was able to be displayed. He was looking to build up the community around him and listen to the movement of the Holy Spirit.

Since this encounter, it has helped me think twice in other moments when I have found myself in a similar situation. How can you spread words of kindness and demonstrate positive actions to imitate Jesus? I encourage you this week to look for moments where you can do this. This might be at the gas station. This might be on a Zoom call. This might be while you are waiting for a bus. There are always opportunities to share love with those around us. It is up to us to say “yes” to the Holy Spirit (and our friends) when those moments arise.