Your Neighbor
Deuteronomy 22:4
“You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.”
I bought my very first used truck last year, a 2015 Chevy Colorado, but because it’s the cheapest version Chevy makes—small engine, no four-wheel drive, two doors, etc.—I souped it up with all-terrain tires so that I could better navigate the rough, gravel roads I frequent on writing excursions. The tires got me up steep mountains, through pothole-filled roads, and performed like a bulldozer for seven months, till, one day, about three weeks ago, two of them just decided to quit.
We piled into our minivan one Sunday morning to head to church and that’s when I noticed that my back truck tire was completely flat. When we arrived back home later that day, in the downtime between lunch and our nightly ministry, I sat on the couch praying and pondering what to do. I knew my neighbor Kenny had the gear to help, but he also has six kids, is heavily involved at his church, and Sunday is his day off. I felt better about paying for a tow-truck then interrupting his R&R, so I just kept mulling it over. But that’s when my cell phone buzzed with a message from Kenny. He’d seen my flat, he’d just bought new plugs and patches, and he wanted to help.
The very next Saturday, I took my kids down to a creek about sixteen minutes away, and, after playing for a couple of hours, we arrived back to find that a different tire was now completely flat! I spent the following Sunday afternoon in exactly the same way I’d spent the former: pacing around my living room and praying about what to do. This time, my neighbor Daniel saw my dilemma, picked me up in his truck, and drove me down to the river to help replace the tire with a spare. Twice in one week my horse had fallen down on the way, so to speak, and, twice, two different brothers eagerly sacrificed rest to get me up and running again.
I doubt Kenny and Daniel can quote Deuteronomy 22:4 off the top of their head, but both live by this law from day to day. And their example has convicted me to do likewise.