Rescued

Rescued

When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them.

Romans 12:13

It was a regular weeknight as I sat in the parents’ viewing area of tae kwon do class. My phone rang, and seeing that it was my husband, I stepped outside into the chilly autumn air to take the call. The news was bad. The car was dead, and he was stranded on the side of the road two hundred miles from home.

Calling my dear friend Jenny, I explained the situation and asked if one of her older kids could handle a midweek babysitting gig so I could go pick up my husband. Halfway through our conversation, I heard her husband’s voice quietly in the background before she repeated his offer to me—Carl was willing to go get Aaron so I could keep the kids on task and on track and get them into bed at a normal time.

After more discussion, that was the plan we finally settled on. With a grateful heart, I laughed and asked Jenny whether or not she realized that she and Carl have had to come to my rescue on more than one occasion when Aaron has been out of town.

Our families’ lives have been so intertwined over these last dozen years that I sometimes forget we are not actual blood relatives. Because Aaron and I do not have family close by, they have become our default family—the ones we call when we are locked out, the ones who give up an evening to retrieve my hubby from halfway across Minnesota, the ones we can spend a whole week with—two couples and seven kids crammed in a small house near the shores of Lake Superior—and still leave as good friends.

For years we’ve quietly come to one another’s rescue, in big things and small, with no scores kept. Just as we are encouraged to do in Scripture, we’ve met one another’s needs during times of discouragement or times of hardship, or even when we’ve just needed an extra set of hands to move something heavy. While I cannot speak for Jenny and Carl, living in community with fellow Christians who go out of their way to help us during those hard moments in life has been life-giving to our spirits and our faith.

—Julie

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Watch for an opportunity to “rescue” someone in your church this week.