The Wisdom of Paying It Forward

It's been a strange morning. It's possible, I suppose, that it could get stranger, but I believe that what I did, in an effort to "pay it forward" will not turn out to be a bad thing at best. Who knows, it may even turn out to be a blessing. One I may never know about but that's why you leave things up to God right? And, as is my wont, I've not started at the beginning of my story.

I live in a rough part of town. It's a given. I learned long ago that the wise way to deal with this is simply mind my own business, smile and nod at strangers and carry on my way. Which is what I've been doing since I moved in here in August. Until this morning. Sometimes, minding my own business gets really tough for me and lines of "smart" and "possibly really dumb", get blurred. Which is when I rely on gut instinct and God. (God being the far more reliable of the two!) That's what I did this morning. Went with my gut and left the rest up to God. Which seems to have worked. At least so far. It's possible that repercussions could happen I suppose but that's all part of it I guess.

Every morning I get out of bed and go for a walk. This morning, on my way out, I almost tripped over three teenagers, more asleep than awake in the hallway. (Which is what happens when landlords don't care about their rental units and "security doors" aren't locked!) In any event, here they were, just feet away from my apartment door. Two teenage boys and a younger teenage girl. They didn't seem at all threatening so I simply said "morning guys", smiled and went for my walk. They were still there when I got back. Now that I was awake, I could see that these kids were in rough shape. One of the boys seemed to have been crying and the other two are just plain wiped out. So I stopped. I asked them why they were there and how long they had been there. They had spent the night in the hallway because every other apartment building they had been to was too cold. "So why are you camping out in hallways?" Rachel asks because she's honestly concerned. (others would call it seriously stupid I know!) I got their story. The short version is, their car broke down about 60 kms. away and they hitchhiked to the city then had nowhere to go. While I'm still not clear on why the hitched to the city instead of going back home, I have some pretty good guesses. These kids were pretty much a mess. So, in true Rachel fashion, I invited them in. (yes, I hear the intakes of breath coming from those of you who subscribe to the "stupid" theory) but it's who I am. It's what I do. And any of you that know me at all, know this to be true. So at 8 am, I had three teenagers asleep in my very tiny apartment. Three teenagers I'd never seen before in my life. And I remembered. I remembered a teenage Rachel who had run away from home. I actually knew where I was going! Or so I thought. I knew that there was someone in this world I could count on for help and that someone lived at the far end of the province. Problem is, I lived pretty much in the middle of the province. Which end was I going to? I finally made a decision that I knew had to be the right one. And I put my thumb out. After two short rides, I got a ride from a man who was going all the way to Yarmouth! Wonderful! I told him I was going to visit a friend and was far too dumb to be concerned about what or who this man might be. And I got lucky. Very lucky. At this point, you've all guessed I'm sure, that I picked the wrong end of the province. I was going in exactly the opposite direction of where I wanted to be. This wonderful stranger (and that is most definitely what he was) caught on quickly that I was a runaway and when I told him the name of the person I was looking for, he told me that he didn't recognize the name at all as being one from his hometown of Yarmouth. Still, when we got there, he did everything in his power to try to find that person for me. I finally confessed that it was possible that I'd gone the wrong way and he told me that I had to call my parents and tell them I was in fact alright. I couldn't do that from his place as his wife was out of town and it wouldn't look good for him to have a young girl in his home alone. He found me a place to stay with friends and made that dreadful phone call to my folks for me. How lucky was I? This man could have been a rapist, murderer or both! He wasn't. He was one of the most decent people I've ever come across in my life and I have always remembered him and his extreme kindness to a sixteen year old, messed up, me. I spent the night with strangers, and my guardian angel showed up the next morning and put me on a train home. Amazing! Simply amazing! I will always owe this stranger. And probably never be able to repay him. As a result, pay it forward, means a lot to me.

Yes, these kids could have turned out to be axe murderers. Yes, I could have been making a huge mistake. But I really didn't think so. I brought them in, fed them, gave them a place to nap for an hour or so and made them make the requisite telephone calls to the people who might be concerned about them. They were grateful, respectful, scared kids. And from the parts of the story I got, they probably had reason to be. Home life didn't sound good for these kids or their respective parents. I really have no idea what will happen to any of them. But that's where faith comes in. I did what I believe God would have wanted me to do. I helped a few of his sheep to the best of my ability. Then, I essentially released them back to him.

I feel good about what I did. So while others are now questioning my sanity for sure, maybe, just maybe, I have finally paid my own debt forward.

Oh, and just for the record, after many years, I actually did find my friend at the opposite end of the province. :+)

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