One of my favorite passages in the Bible is the end of Genesis 18, where Abraham is bargaining with God for the salvation of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham asks God if He will spare the city for 50 righteous people and walks that number all the way down to 10. When I look at all the bad in the world today, I remind myself of this passage and know that there must be some good people still out there.
Last weekend, I went home to see my parents. On the way back, after almost 3 hours of driving and only 5 minutes away from my house, I hit a pothole that burst my tire. I was on an old country road with very little shoulder to the road so I persevered about a mile to a gas station I knew was nearby. At the gas station I took a look at the tire and confirmed it was not going to get me home. I had a spare in the back, but I didn’t think I was strong enough to actually change the tire. There were people moving around at the station but being alone it seemed not the safest thing to approach random strangers about changing a tire. Eventually I called my cousin who lived about 30 minutes away (a testimony for another time).
As I sat waiting for my cousin to arrive, a woman approached my car to ask me if I was alright and if someone was coming to help me. It made me think of the passage in Genesis. I don’t know what she would have done if I had said no, but the fact is she cared enough to ask. Most of the people at the station walked past me and my flat tire without saying anything. In their defense, some might have been just as afraid to approach me as I was to approach them. However, it seemed that the woman knew the man parked beside me and it is possible that he asked her to check on me as a woman approaching a woman is less intimidating.
I only spent about an hour and a half at the station. Many people came and went, but YHWH reminded me that there are still good people and that’s why we’re still here.
