A Hot Time in Austin Tonight

It was a scorching afternoon last summer as I was just a couple of exits away from my final destination of the day - the Hyatt Regency. I was in town on business getting ready to attend our annual leadership convention that started the following morning.

I pulled into the Kwik-E-mart on I-35 near downtown Austin. As I pulled up to the gas pump, heat waves were rising off the concrete pavement and I got out and started fueling up my car. I was in a hurry because it had been a long drive and I was anxious to get to my hotel and hopefully get in a quick run along the lake before dusk and the vampire bats would come out from under the Congress Avenue bridge.

While fueling up, I decided to make a quick pit stop myself and headed across the blistering parking lot to the restroom. As I approached the store, I noticed a couple of seedy looking individuals sitting on the curb.

The couple was covered in tattoos and scars. They got some in prison and others in bars and some even working on old junk cars… in the daytime.

“These were the people my parents warned me about” was the best way I could describe them.

As I walked passed them on the way into the store, the man looked up at me and asked me if I could help them out.

I’m not complaining, but one of the few privileges that you surrender when driving a Mercedes is the ability to claim you don’t have any money - even if it is just a C class.

At first, I attempted not making eye contact and quickly dismissed him by saying… ”not today.”

Normally, I do try to help out whenever someone asks and give at least a couple of bucks, but for some reason, that sweltering afternoon being one of them, I wasn’t in the mood.

I despise being hot, just ask my wife, we keep our thermostat at 68 degrees year round.

Besides they were just going to use my hard earned money on drugs, or cigarettes or even worse… beer… beer that they had no intention or sharing with me. (wink and click)

As I entered the convenience store, my conscious really started getting the better of me. God began tugging at my heartstrings. Maybe they really did need the money. Maybe they really were just hungry or thirsty.

At that point, I began thinking - I'm not responsible for what they do with the money, but I am responsible for my actions and to give to those in need.

I tried justifying it with myself - maybe I should just buy them a couple of sandwiches or a couple of the hot dogs that appeared as if they had been on the rollers since last June.

Or better yet, maybe I could just purchase a 12 pack of Dos XX and crack it open on the curb and share it with them, but the store was out of limes.

Seriously though, something told me that was not what God meant when He said “Whatever you do unto the least of these…”

As I exited the store I gave the man a $5 bill and said "God bless you.” He shook my hand, looked into my eyes and said "thank you.”

I hopped in my car feeling like I had done my good deed for the day and just as I started to drive away, the man jumped up and pointed at my car. He ran towards my car, yelling “Stop!"

I had no idea what was going to happen next. What was he going to do? In the mili-seconds that seemed like hours, all sorts of things raced through my mind.

Is he going to hijack my car?

Will he pull a gun on me and demand more money?

Am I about to lose my life over the $43 in my wallet, like the city boy that Hank Williams Jr. sang about?

Instinctively, I slammed on my breaks. He immediately ran towards the back of my car. He grabbed the nozzle of the gas pump that was still attached to my vehicle and proceeded to place it back on the pump.

In all the excitement, I had forgotten to remove it when I got back into my car. He smiled and gave me a “thumbs up” as I proceeded to drive away.

Wow! He may have saved me hundreds or even thousands of dollars in damage to my car. He may have even prevented the Kwik-E-mart from a huge gas fire or from potentially being blown to smithereens.

As I got back on the highway, I felt both, good and terrible, all at the same time.

I was extremely disappointed in myself for dismissing the couple from the start. I based my opinion of their value as people solely on their appearance. I don’t normally do that. But I was extremely thankful that my conscious got the better of me before I left.

The man gave me much more than I gave him. It was God’s way of demonstrating to me that He gives back 10 fold… or even more in this particular case.

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” Wayne Dwyer

I’ll conclude with this - I don’t know if God provides these situations to test us, or… to give us an opportunity, but regardless, I was thankful to not only be able to give, but also to learn a valuable lesson about stereotyping someone just because of the way they looked.