Good Samaritan Moments

My English teacher in 7^th grade did something awesome. Once a month she would take us to the special needs area in our school to help the kids. She was obviously passionate about teaching us more than just grammar. Little did she know how much help I needed. Anyway, her life lessons were powerful as she pushed us to help others.

I was scared though. There were some severely special needs kids, and I was afraid to help them. I can’t tell you why. My mom was special needs certified, and I would watch movies with her about special needs kids. I remember even praying that I wouldn’t have a special needs kid when I got older. So when it came time to pick a special needs kid to help, I chose a girl with Down Syndrome. I was better at this (and more comfortable) because I had some cousins with Down Syndrome. I loved this little girl and enjoyed being in her pre-school class helping her. But one day she was sick, and I had to read books to the severely special needs kids. I remember being so scared and uncomfortable that day.

This week we talk about the Good Samaritan. This is one of those parables that is pretty obvious. Just love the person who is your enemy. We can all understand how that is hard for us. We also can see how selfish we are and how we pass by people who need our help. How about just communicating to people that intimidate us, or to a group of people we are scared to help? How are we at that?

God has a funny way of teaching us Good Samaritan lessons. Over a year ago I asked the youth at Mt. Calvary how they wanted to serve. Having no clue about my history, they said they wanted to help the special needs kids down the road at the Children’s Home. I was thrilled with their passion. So what did we do? We read books to the special needs kids. It was a good experience.  We did it for about a year, and my fears were mostly gone. Yet you should have heard me fumble over my words as I was being interviewed about it for an article they wanted to write. I was trying to say everything just right and hide my battles with fear from years ago.

There are Good Samaritan moments all over the place, and most of them, like my story, are uncomfortable to talk about. There are paths all over our lives that lead to people who need help. Sometimes it is the tug of youth that get me to notice someone lying in the road that I’m trying to avoid. This weekend, we take time to hear this parable again and look at our road and who God might be leading us to help.