On a recent visit to my “old” home country, Germany, I drove my now elderly mother to the local bank. Waiting in the car for her to return, I looked down the street at the sign of a small Mom and Pop store selling toys, magazines, books, and many other small things. As I thought about how many decades it has been operating, I all of a sudden remembered an event from my childhood, and memories flooded my mind.
I was a young boy, probably nine or ten years old at the time, that had been caught by surprise in a violent thunderstorm. It came with torrential rain, loud, teeth rattling thunderclaps and terrifying, bright lightning strikes. There was no one else in the street; I felt alone and scared, seeking shelter in the small entry way of that store from all that frightened me. Hoping that some soul had seen me and would come to my rescue, I suddenly saw someone peer from behind the closed store doors. It was the owner of the store, who kindly unlocked the door, inviting me in until the storm had subsided. When I got inside, I noticed that the owner and his wife were busy trying to save their store and livelihood from harm brought on by the rushing floodwater produced by the thunderstorm. Yet, they had found time and compassion for a visibly frightened young boy.
What a beautiful picture of what community is supposed to look like I had seen displayed that day. I did not know the owners personally, and will never know exactly what motivated them to reach out to me. The fact that I remember that day long gone so clearly, tells me that the impact was significant for me.
The kind deed of the owner meant for me the difference between feeling abandoned and embraced, between frightened and secure, and between loved and forgotten.
I do not know whether these folks were motivated by Christian beliefs that encourage honoring one another, to serve one another, to live in harmony with one another, to bear one another, and to be kind and compassionate to one another. Knowingly or not, the store owner had fulfilled the command of Jesus, to love one another, by comforting a scared little boy, who decades later remains affected by that compassionate act.
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