On the Other Side of the Road

Toward the end of my college days I was the pastor of Hachita Baptist Church, a small country church in the boothill of New Mexico. (1987 – 1990) The church was 120 miles from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces where I attended school. Often I would travel there on Fridays and spend Saturdays visiting people, than on Sundays I would travel back to school in the late afternoon or evenings.

One day about 4:30 pm when I was in a hurry to get back to Las Cruces to see a young lady, I noticed a car with people standing next to it on the other side of the interstate just as I was pulling onto the road. As soon as I saw these people I felt a tug in me to go help these people – I might have even heard a voice . . . But there was this young lady in Las Cruces and these people were going the other direction and surely someone going that way would stop and help them out. So began my arguments.

The further I traveled away from these people the more I felt that I should go back and help them. Yet the further away I got the more reason I had for not going back. After all, someone else would help them, so why should I? As I neared Deming, about forty miles from these people, my heart began to physically hurt me. I knew that I had to turn back. I believe that I could not have gone further away from these people even if I had tried to. I surrendered to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

When I arrived at the scene, they were still there. It was a mother and her son. It was a hot day – not unusual in the desert of Southwestern New Mexico. The mother looked dejected, parched, and devoid of emotion. I learned that the husband had started walking towards the next town in order to hire some help about an hour ago. I offered to carry them into Lordsburg and pick up her husband on the way.

As we traveled in my little Toyota pickup truck to Lordsburg, they began to tell me their story. The lady told me that they had been there all day and no one had stopped to help them even when they tried to wave someone down. The lady looked at her son and said, “see son - I told you if we just prayed that God would send someone to help us. We should have prayed this morning.”

The boy looked at his watch and than said to his mother, rather sarcastically, “mother we prayed at 4:30 - over an hour ago – when dad was still here. This has nothing to do with God. We just finally found a nice person”

I’m not sure the boy believed me when I shared my story with him but his mother was praising God, looking refreshed and excited - so was I. What a huge transformation in this mother. It reminded me of the familiar verse of scripture: “Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.” -Isaiah 40:31 God is amazing!