One day a man saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her.

Even with a warm smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Now it was dark. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe; he looked poor and hungry.

He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in a cold night. He knew how she felt, and recognized those chills which only fear could arouse.

He said, “I’m here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.”

All that was wrong with her car was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get down and get dirty and his hands hurt.

As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn’t thank him enough for coming to her aid.

Bryan just smiled as he put the tools away and closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened to her had he not stopped. Bryan never thought about being paid. This was not a job to him; this was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty of good people who had given him a hand in his time of need.

He told the lady if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could do the same. And he added: “think of me.”

Bryan felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.

A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was not what she was used to. The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe the lady’s wet hair. She had a sweet smile that not even the whole day’s drudgery could erase. The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant but didn’t let the strain and aches of pregnancy change her attitude which made her wonder: how could someone with so little be so giving to a stranger like herself. Then she remembered Bryan, and his unsolicited act of kindness.

After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress quickly went to get change for the hundred dollar bill, but the old lady had slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back. The waitress wondered where the lady could be. Then she noticed something written on the napkin.

There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote: “You don’t owe me anything. I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I’m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do: Do not let this chain of love end with you. Pass it on.”

Under the napkin were four more $100 bills.

There were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve as the waitress made it through another day. That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband were in need of? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard…..

She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, “Everything’s going to be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson.”

Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:42 that if we make a sacrifice to help someone in need, we will receive a reward. No good deed goes unrewarded. What goes around comes around.

—Courtesy of Kudz Illa