More than a Good Deed

A guy I knew had a bad day at work. He ended up being stranded at a job site which would have been an 11 hour walk back to his car. If he was able to walk back to his car by the time he got there the car would have been locked u on the property. Sure there is Lyft and Uber but like lots of people he was living from paycheck to paycheck and didn't have the means to pay for that. 

 I had just turned my phone off airplane mode just moments before he called me. I told him he got lucky reaching me that I had just turned my phone on.  He said that was God!

I drove out to where he was and  picked him up, drove him to his car and drove back to my place. It was somewhere between 60-80 miles of driving. However, I didn't have any plans and really wasn't that big of a deal. He said he didn't know a lot of people around here and it was God that lead him to call me. He was in this area for work. Where his home is the jobs are scarce and the pay very low. 

He shared his gratitude to me. Declaring if I ever needed anything to call him first! He gave the credit to God. After all God was the one who had me turn my phone on when I did. Even before that maybe God had something with us exchanging contact numbers. Maybe God had something to do with me being available and having a car. Sometimes being a friend, doing a good deed is so much more. 

A Good Samaritan

I have been fortunate in my life to run into my share of good Samaritans when I have needed one. Not always, but more than my fair share. Late last night on a multi lane highway, we saw a car in front of us loose control and smash int a jersey wall.

How the driver did this I don't know. The pavement was dry. Maybe she was distracted, maybe she was tired, maybe she was on drugs, medication or was drunk. Maybe it was just bad luck. Anyway the how didn't really matter. Was the driver OK? Were there other passengers? I instructed my wife who was driving to pull over.

I dialed 911 on my cell phone. The dispatcher transferred me to the state police..while this was taking place I had started walking toward the vehicle. I saw the vehicle start to move a little bit and the driver got out. She was a young lady probably in her 20s. She said she was OK and was going to drive away..

So she was gone before I could give all the details to the police. However, the important thing is I decided to stop and see if I could help. I was amazed she was not injured and was able to drive away. A tribute to safety features in newer vehicles.

The Cycle of A Good Deed

A while back I signed up for Kiva. It's a neat idea of micro financing. You loan $25 to a entrepreneur in a third world country. Your money is pooled with others, and the entrepreneur gets their loans. The loans are to help the entrepreneur's business, they can be for supplies, repairs, to pay wages, improvements, and the like.

Your paid back as the entrepreneur pays their loan back. Once it is paid back you are credited back the $25 you loaned. There is risk, as a few, a very few loans aren't repaid. However, my loan was paid back. She actually paid her loan off early. I had the option to cash out my $25, but I chose to keep the circle going and I loaned the money to another entrepreneur. I'm just happy to see it work.

For more on Kiva check out the article I wrote about them:

There are lots of things you could do with $25. You could easily spend it on diner, a movie, a concert, and you could donate it a charity. Did you know you could loan it to an organization to make philanthropic micro financing loans to help fight world poverty? (Link)