Beech Tree News Network

Recently, one of our customers at the shop came in the front door and asked for my husband, Garey.  She had a problem with her car and wasn’t sure what to do.  Garey wasn’t in the shop that day, because he had to make an unexpected trip to Alabama.  When I told her, I thought she might burst into tears. 

               “I’ll get somebody to help you,” I told her.  “Let me have your keys, and I will pull your car around into the bay, and we’ll have a look.  We have a good mechanic in the basement, and Greg can look under the hood.  If there’s anything wrong, they will find it.

               She handed me the keys and I pulled the car around.  I knew the woman had recently lost her husband, a man she truly loved and had depended on for years.  She seemed lost without him.  The problem with her car was minor.  When the guys finished with it, I pulled the car out of the bay and back around to the door of our office, where she was waiting.  The woman was relieved, but teared up once again when I handed her the keys.

               “The reason I asked for Garey,” she said, “is because he helped me the last time I was here.  I wanted to take my car through the wash, and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get it lined up, so he rode with me.  It was right after my husband died, and I just needed somebody to talk to, and Garey listened to me, and he really helped me.  Make sure you tell him that.”

               I assured her I would.  I have passed along messages like that to Garey countless times our whole lives together, because that’s who he is—someone who will go with you.  I have learned the importance of being that kind of person from him, but for him it is instinctual.  He just Is that person.

               Have you ever heard the George Strait song, “I Saw God Today?”  The lyrics describe people the singer encounters, demonstrating ordinary acts of kindness, and in those interactions, he sees the heart of God.  I have seen God many times in others, but one day, I was surprised to see God in me.  It’s not that I don’t think the spirit of God moves through me, and I always try to do right by others.  It wasn’t that kind of moment.  It was a “this is how God is with you, Cheryl Hughes” moment.

               My granddaughter, Sabria, wanted to take some apples out to the horses so they could eat out of her hand.  The gate going into the barn was blocked, but we have a small gate beside the corner of the barn just big enough for a person to squeeze through.  I told Sabria we could go through that way.  As we got to the gate, a large wood bee emerged and started buzzing around.  Sabria screamed and ran away to the swing in the front yard.

               I called out to her, “It’s alright, Sabria.  I will go with you.”

               “No, Gee,” she said, “I’m too afraid.”

               “I won’t let the bee get you, I promise.   I’ll help you through the gate, and I’ll carry the apples,” I said.

               But Sabria wouldn’t budge.  It was then that I saw God.  I was like God with his hand out, beckoning and promising to protect.   It was then that I also saw me.  I was like Sabria, reluctant and afraid to trust. 

               I realized that day that God is always willing to go with us.  He puts people all around us who are willing to help, but it’s up to us to ask then trust them.