Helping others can be dirty

What do you do when you see someone in trouble? What is your first thought?

Maybe you start figuring out how to offer your help. Maybe you start praying someone else will come along and do "their" part to help. Maybe you glance the other way and pretend to not notice. Maybe you keep driving. Maybe you have never encountered it.

It happened recently to me. My sister, brother-in-law, and niece were visiting for a few days. One afternoon, while playing at the park, I noticed a truck drive near the pond. Normally this would not be a big deal - people drive up to the pond to go fishing all the time. But on this day, due to the massive amount of rain we'd been getting, it was a problem. The ground was really wet and there were puddles everywhere. The driver of the truck did not think about this and drove near the pond to go fishing.

As I was standing on the play bridge, at the park, watching him I started to think. The ladies had just left to work on getting lunch ready, leaving the three kids and two dads. I knew we were going to need to go and help try to push him out, but wasn't sure what to do. So I watched. I knew it would take a minute or two to get the kids from the park to the pond. And I was hoping he would be able to drive right through without getting stuck. But then he stopped. (not good)

I watched him try reverse and just spin his wheels. So, we collected the kids and started walking toward him. By this point, another car had stopped to try and help. The driver was able to help push the truck a little bit, but was not going to get him out. By the time we got close, the help was walking back to his car.

So, the three of us (driver who stopped to help, brother-in-law and myself) walked back to the truck and were going to push it out. Well, the other driver ended up behind the right wheel and my brother-in-law ended up behind the left wheel. I was the second guy there and went to the middle with little thought. We pushed him out, but not before getting a "little" muddy. Because I was in the middle, I only got some of the spray. Look at what my brother-in-law got...

This is what some of the pants looked like afterward.








This was his shoe.








Helping others is dirty.

You do not always get physically dirty, either. But you are not guaranteed to stay clean.

As we were walking home, I was reminded of one truth. It is always the right thing to do to help someone in need. My 2 year old told me, "Daddy, I'm glad you helped him." So am I.

Reminds me of something Jesus said.