Sorry, this incident happened a while ago (November of 2007), and I started a post about it back then. I just realized I never published it and thought it might be good to finish it up and post it.
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Admittedly, our church is not in the nicest area of town. Actually, we spend a lot of time in one of these not-so-nice neighborhoods surrounding our church doing visitation work which simultaneously adds a level of familiarity and caution when we are on that side of town.
Last night, my familiarity for the area around our church was expanded to a greater degree as I heard a "thump-thump-thump" noise on the way home from the evening service. Thankfully, I was on a street with a nice wide median lane. Unfortunately, that street doesn't have any street lights on it. Thankfully, the rest of the family drove separately, so I was alone. Unfortunately, I was alone. Thankfully, there was a lighted gas station just a few hundred feet up the road. Unfortunately, it still was in the not-so-nice area of town.
I got out and confirmed that it was a flat tire indeed, then proceeded to limp the car along to a remote (yet well-lit) part of the gas station and began to pull all the necessary tools out to change the tire--in my suit to boot. A couple of fellows (from the neighborhood and suspiciously eager to help) a little distance off started walking toward my car. As they got closer the conversation began: "Problem with your car?" "Yeah, flat tire." "Which one?" "It's this one back here." And from there, the two guys took my jack and lug wrench and started working on the tire. Of course, I was a little standoff-ish at first, but once I felt they won't clobber me with the lug wrench, I watched in amazement. What was particularly funny to me is they didn't ask if they could do this for me--they just started working on it. Another funny thing was that they couldn't figure out which end of the lug wrench (I have a 4-way lug wrench) to use, and tried each end multiple times before figuring out they hadn't tried the end that worked.
After their noble deed was done, they proceeded to ask me to pay them for the kind service they rendered. Unfortunately, I had a couple dollars in my wallet so I couldn't tell them I didn't have any money. I have learned over the years that giving money directly to strangers is not good practice so, I decided that I would take them in the grocery store and buy them something warm to drink or a little something to eat. They weren't so pleased with my idea--they just wanted the hard, cold cash. They would not go into the store with me, until I finally said, "I'm not going to give you money, but I would like to get you a little something from the store, now are you coming in?" They picked up a soda and bag or so of chips. Incidentally, there was a third guy who stood around and watched the other two change my tire. He was more than happy to go into the store and drop a bag of chips on the counter. I said, "I'm not going to pay for yours--the other guys did all the work."
After coming out of the store, I had one of the guys tried to still get some money out of me, saying he hadn't eaten today, that the chips wouldn't do much good, and that he had a little bit of money but needed a few bucks to go down to McDonald's for supper. I asked him if he knew about the soup kitchen down the road that gave out free meals during the day. He did, but said that he didn't make it down there. I pressed him about his poor planning not to get a meal when one was being offered for free. I found out how much change he had and gave him a quarter to get him so he could buy a $1 menu item from McDonald's.
You may think it was a great opportunity for the gospel. It may have been. However, I feel like if I would have started talking that they would not have been listening. I viewed it more as a good opportunity to disassociate in these guy's minds a connection between "church people" and easy targets for money. I still drive by that gas station, and occasionally look for Darrell and Douglas and remember my flat tire.
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