“A friend of mine, Paul Gregory, married his fiance of two years one summer between the spring semester and fall semester. They were poor college students in love. Their engagement had lasted a long time because they had both worked and saved to pay for their wedding and honeymoon. They were married in Utica, New York, on a Saturday afternoon and left us around 5:00 p.m. to head for their mountain cottage.
We had filled his Oldsmobile Cutlass with balloons, tied cans to the back, written all over the windows, and left a few other surprises inside the old car. We had not, however, planned for the surprise he was about to receive. As he tells the story, they were both lost in the glow of beauty and anticipation and weren’t really paying attention to what the car was doing. His mind was somewhere else, and it felt as if his Cutlass was traveling at a snail’s pace.
As they came around a large curve, two wheels grabbing the road, his new wife, Julie, said, ‘I think the lights are flickering’ and followed that up with ‘I think you should slow down.’
It was at that moment Paul realized for the first time that it was raining outside. He also realized that as fast as he was trying to get his car to go, it wasn’t responding the way he wanted it to. And the lights on the dashboard were flickering. Before he could even come up with an idea, the car quit and coasted to a stop right at the bottom of a large hill. It was close to dark, around 7:30. Their headlights were out and couldn’t get a glow. Paul tried starting the car and got no response. He popped the hood of the car and stepped out into the rain, knowing he had no idea what he would be looking for, but hoping that if he wiggled a wire or two, the car would spring back to life. He lifted the hood and looked at an engine he knew nothing about. He wiggled this wire, tapped that thing, shook the battery, and cursed his old car. He looked around the corner of the hood to see his beautiful new bride sitting in the passenger seat. This is going to be a VERY different wedding night, he thought. In a car, on the side of the road. Nott the romantic evening Julie had planned I am sure. Paul shook his head, slammed the hood, and headed back to the driver’s seat while praying for a miracle; just one little spark was all it would take. He got in and turned the key, hoping against hope, and…nothing. He looked over at Julie again.
‘Should we walk?’ he asked.
‘To where?’ she wanted to know.
‘I don’t know. We can’t just sit here though.’
To hear Julie tell this story, the whole time she had thought Paul was faking. He is a jokester, and she thought he was doing something on purpose to make her nervous or surprise her. But the look on his face and the anger with which he was hitting the steering wheel convinced her that he was very serious.
‘I don’t want to spend our first night in a car!’ Julie later said that she didn’t mean to sound angry, but it came out that way.
‘Oh, and you think I do?! Come on. Let’s walk.’
Just as Paul started to get out of his car, an old red truck slid in behind them. Paul said he was a bit nervous. He didn’t really know what to expect, and his mother was the kind of mom that, with all good intention, instilled fear in her kids. So Paul’s mind was racing from uncomfortable situations to horrifying thoughts when the old man driving the truck knocked on his window. Paul opened the door and stepped out into the rain with the man.
‘What seems to be the problem?’ asked the man.
Paul said he didn’t know what it was about the old guy, but he felt completely set at ease as soon as the guy shook his hand.
‘I don’t really know. It just quit running and now it won’t start.’
The old man nodded his head. ‘Tell you what. Why don’t I hook up to it and pull it over to my house? I just live right up there, and I got a shop. I can take a look at it.’
Paul looked in the direction he was pointing. ‘That would be great.’
The old guy headed back to his truck, and Paul opened the door to speak to Julie.
‘He’s gonna tow us back to his place.’
‘And then what…I don’t think that is a good idea.’ There was obvious panic on Julie’s face.
‘Don’t worry,’ Paul tried to reassure her, ‘he’s a nice old guy.’
‘Yeah, right. I don’t know Paul…I just don’t feel comfortable.’
‘Well, I don’t know what else we are going to do.’
At this point, the old man had backed his truck up and began hooking Paul’s car onto his truck. He gave Paul a wave and hollered, ‘Put her in neutral.’
Paul nodded and shifted the car. The tow strap tightened, and the car lurched forward. The sun was almost down now, and Paul was worried about being towed in the dark with no lights. They went about a mile, and the old man turned down a gravel road.
‘I don’t like this at all.’ Julie was obviously nervous, but Paul was pretty confident.
The old gravel road twisted and truned its way back to a comfortable looking little farm. Paul saw the brake lights come on in front of him and tried as best he could to mimic the pressure. The car still jerked and pulled on the tow strap but finally came to a rest. Before Paul got out of the car, the old guy had already grabbed some tools out of his garage and was heading back to take a look. Paul said it took him about five minutes to diagnose the fact their alternator was trashed.
‘Great,’ said Paul, ‘Now what?’
‘Well, it’s late Saturday evening and nothing is going to be open tomorrow. And we’ll be lucky if the part store has one in stock, so it could be Tuesday morning at the earliest…’
Paul said he quit listening at ‘nothing will be open tomorrow.’ Paul’s mind was on not just the obvious, his wedding night, but the rest of their honeymoon. They had already paid for their rooms, had nothing extra to get a hotel with, and no way to get there or even pay for their car to get fixed. He was thinking of options, getting ready to call a friend, when the old guy’s words cut through his wandering mind and brought it back to the present.
‘…so I guess the only thing left is for you guys to take my car. It gets pretty good gas mileage, and I think it even has a full tank of gas.’ The old guy began reaching in his pocket for his keys.
‘Wait a minute, ‘ Paul interjected. ‘You don’t even know us, and you’re going to loan us your car for the weekend?’
‘No. For the week. Julie said you guys have reservations for the week.’
‘Are you serious? You’re going to let us take your car?’
‘It’s not my car. It’s Jesus’.’
At this point Paul is flabbergasted. Paul is a believer, but he said at that moment he was questioning whether or not he really was. Here this man, no knowing them from anyone, offered his car. And to complete the story, no only did he loan them his car, he fixed theirs while they were gone and said it was their wedding gift.”
This story from Crabgrass & Oak Trees by Jonathan Almanzar and Aaron Havens stuck with me when I’d finished reading the book. It made me think about what life would be like if more people gave up ownership of their possessions because they really belong to Jesus; perhaps the world would be a much better place if this mentality were more predominant, for selfishness would surely dwindle in the face of such unselfishness and surrender. Continuing on this train of thought brought me to the realization that the fruit I produce is not for my own consumption because it doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the world. Our cash & food abundance, love, peace, kindness, patience – all is to be given away.
“When we consume our own fruit, we are the wicked tree the king curses as he approaches and finds no fruit.” – Crabgrasss & Oak Trees
