Life Through the Lens: A couple of coins
In his Christian column, Kevin Schrapel recalls a random act of kindness he recently experienced from a stranger.
This post is the author’s personal opinion.
We had gone to visit a nature park, where I found myself confronted with an overgrown, grey metal box with an obviously over-inflated ego silently demanding, “if you want to park your car there, it’ll cost you four dollars”.
Okay, fair enough.
But who carries cash these days when a piece of special plastic does the same job?
Upon closer inspection, it became obvious that my bank card would not go in the appropriate slot.
Never mind; a notice on the side advised I could download the Easypark app to my phone, enter the details of said bank card, turn a graphic dial on the phone screen indicating how long I planned to park, and if I had not signed out in the allocated time it would advise me, I could decide to stay longer and pay more.
Oh well – load the app, do the appropriate finger stabbing and now the car can happily stay in place for one hour.
That is when something wonderful and unexpected happened.
A lady who had been watching me work through my dilemma and struggle with modern technology was suddenly standing next to me holding out two shiny two-dollar coins.
With a smile, she said, “I know the card slot cannot be used; if you have no coins you can use these”.
I profusely thanked her and said I had just loaded the app and all was well.
As she walked away wishing me a “have a nice day,” some words of Jesus came to mind: “if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded” (Matthew 10:42).
I could imagine Jesus turning to his father and, with a smile, saying, “she got it, didn’t she?”
And his father, with a nod, would reply, “she did, son: it’s not about the cup of water, it’s about recognising when someone is in need, no matter how big or small and, if you can, filling that need, be it with an action, a word of kindness or support or even a smile.”
“Now, how shall we reward her?”
May God’s love help more people to see more people who need “a cup of cold water” and respond in a way that makes Jesus smile.
God bless.
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