Taking the Time to Make a Difference

I don’t know why I said what I said, and I could hardly believe the response I received. It was a gift both unexpected and unforgettable, and I hope my telling of this story does not embarrass the gift-giver. The story begins about an hour before a vigil service was to begin, at Holy Redeemer Church in Evansville. It was on the evening before the execution of a convicted killer. These circumstances are important, to help explain what happened. News media representatives were already at the church when I arrived. I did my best to make sure they could do their job in accord with the ground rules set by the parish pastor. Three deacons were to be involved in the vigil, and they too were in the church, going over the details of the service. At this point, I had not told anyone about the major distraction for me, that I had a flat tire on my car. My first obligation, as the diocesan communications person, was to the prayer service leaders and participants, and to the reporters and photographers who came to cover it. Once I was assured that all would go well, I began to wonder what to do about my flat tire. I had parked in the first available space I could find at the church, not a very well-lit area. I had not checked the condition of my spare tire for many months, maybe years. I was not confident I could find the jack and the wrench, and use them in the dark and the cold of that December night. Just as I was going over these uncertainties in my mind, Deacon John McMullen walked across the room to say hello to me. He used the standard greeting: “Hello, Paul. How are you?” I replied with the standard answer, adding a non-standard comment that popped into my head. I said, “I’m fine, John — but I’d be better if you had an air compressor with you.” He seemed puzzled for a few seconds at my odd statement – then announced, “Well I do have an air compressor.” Even more unexpected than his response was the action that followed. Less than 30 minutes before the prayer service, at which Deacon John was to preach the homily, he parked his car next to mine and dug out a small plug-in compressor from the trunk. He hooked it up, and we knelt together on the pavement, on that 19-degree night, and watched with a flashlight as the tire slowly inflated – a simple liturgy of a gift given and a gift received. With enough air in the tire to get me to a nearby service station, we packed things away, and I tried to express my gratitude. I thanked him for this unexpected action of human kindness, done under the pressure of unusual circumstances. His response? “I’m a deacon. Deacons are ordained to serve.”

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So that’s the story of the strange comment I made and the remarkable response I received. In reflection, I realize that I did not merely complain about a problem, that “I have a flat tire.” I proposed a solution, that “I’d be better if you had an air compressor.”

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What do you pray for? What do you need? What are the gifts you have received in your own time of need, large or small? At Christmas time, I have come to realize that none of us could ever have proposed the solution given us by our loving God. We didn’t even know what we were asking for. Who could ever have expected that God would have sent his son to become one of us, one with us? Who would have ever expected that we would be told, “Ask, and you shall receive?” Who would have believed it? Take the time to give to another what you have received from the one who was born in a stable, whose birth we celebrate on a cold December night.

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