CREEDE HINSHAW: Acknowledging random acts of kindness

I was the recipient of a random act of kindness. These events of micro-grace happen daily, although they usually go unreported.

I was in my car. I had left church after the 11 a.m. service, having filled the pulpit that morning. It had been a good day, and I was musing on all the good things that happened in church, driving along in the slow lane, listening to some soothing music, and inhabiting my own world.

But then I heard the motorist behind me honk. Since I was minding my own business and tootling along at a moderate rate of speed, I paid no attention. A few minutes later the same motorist honked again, this time pulling up alongside me on the 4-lane highway. I took a quick glance at the car, thinking maybe it was somebody I knew who was also on the way home from church. The driver, however, was unknown to me, though she seemed to be trying to communicate.

I had no time to ponder this, because the car behind her also pulled alongside me and that woman was also gesturing to me. Slow on the uptake, it finally hit me that I had left something on top of my car.

When I left the church parking lot, my arms were full. I had my pulpit robe, my suit coat, a stack of material from the Sunday school class I had taught, my cap, Bible and hymnal. Maybe I’d put something on top of my car when I opened the door.

Pulling into a driveway at the first opportunity, I discovered my church hymnal still on top of my car roof. Suddenly I was glad I had not been racing down the highway. But then I realized I had also put my Bible atop that hymnal, and it was nowhere to be found. The two women who signaled me must have seen it blow off the roof.

Turning around, I drove carefully back to the church, but saw no sign of my Bible alongside the road. Now, retracing my route for the second time, I saw a piece of paper in the ditch that looked like a church bulletin. Finding a safe place to stop, wearing white shirt and tie, I tramped through the ditch to investigate. Sure enough, it was the morning church bulletin, but no Bible.

That Bible was one given me by my wife quite a few years ago, and I hated to lose it; my name was embossed on the cover, so I thought maybe it would eventually find its way back to me via more kindness.

But I looked up and down the road one more time. There it was. In the middle of the highway. I dashed onto the highway and retrieved it and drove home thanking God for two persistent motorists. It may have been a small act to them, but it was huge for me.

Have you been a recipient of somebody’s kindness? Have you been kind today?