Christina Anthony, a good friend of mine and editor of Biker Living, recently posted a story on Facebook about an experience she had while returning from delivering the most recent issues. I was so struck with the clarity of her description that I want to share it with you, and she kindly gave me permission.

From Facebook, Christina speaking:

Yes, this is going to be a long short story…. Last night I left CGHW bike night to head out to Spicewood for the Down Under Deli’s last open mic/bike night as they are changing venues and becoming a Mexican restaurant soon… anyway I was in my truck with lots of magazines in back to be delivered and I was sort of in a hurry. On my way along hwy 71, as I drove under the 130 overpass, I saw a woman walking with her kiddo… the mom was wearing a white tank top and had her arm around her child but otherwise they wore black and I would not have seen them except for the white of her shirt. They were off the road far enough but I thought wow, I wouldn’t want to be walking out there at night.

I was in the middle lane and trying to be in Spicewood as soon as I could but God told me to loop around and “give them a ride”… yes God, you know that very first voice you hear when you ask yourself something or wonder or need to make a decision, that very first voice we usually ignore… but I’ve learned to listen to it because every time I do it keeps me out of trouble or puts me in the right direction, like when the transmission of my bike was falling apart on IH35 a couple years ago… that voice… told me to “loop around”. I thought really, I’m kind of in a hurry… but I got in the left lane, found the turn around and went back… I guess not far enough back cause I couldn’t see them… and decided to head to Spicewood… only that voice, said, “do it again”.

In my own head I thought I really don’t have time for this, I want to get to Spicewood… but God, you know that voice that steers me right, said “yes you do”… so I looped back around and sure enough there they were. I drove past them and pulled over, way off the road, turned on my interior light and rolled the window down so they could see me when they got to my truck.. asked if they wanted a ride and they eagerly said yes so they got in and off we went. They had missed the bus when leaving a school event, had been walking a few miles already, the little girl was about 9-10 maybe… I was going to drop them off at the bus stop but asked where they were heading… which happened to be very close to where I had to get my car out of impound the day before, so now I knew the area (hmmm, I wonder if God planned that too) and told them I’d just drive them there.

The mom said her young daughter had been complaining about being tired from walking so far along that rough road edge, trying to stay off the road but out of the grasses in the dark… she had told her daughter to pray to God, he would bring them an angel. About 10 minuted later I pulled over… which is about how long it took me to do the two loop-arounds. I told her what God had said to me when I thought to myself I really don’t have time for this… she said He can be a joker like that sometimes… we both laughed.

But you know, after I dropped her off, driving away I thought about what she had said and how and more importantly why I had made the decision to pull over when I could have just stayed in the middle lane and kept going and I realize that while there may be angels on earth, perhaps we all get the opportunity to be a stand-in angel when we answer God’s calling even for just a few minutes… listen to that first voice, encourage others to do the same… that’s God talking… He encourages kindness and we could all stand to spread a little more of that. Which is why I am sharing this… and yes, I made it out to the DUDE in plenty of time to enjoy some great open mic music before they closed.

Tom speaking: