Today we returned home from a week-long trip to visit one of our dear daughters a long distance away. An added benefit to our visits with our daughter and her husband and four children is that we spend nights with lifelong friends who live in our daughter’s vicinity. As we were sitting at their table in their spacious, brick home in an affluent suburb of a Midwestern metropolis, the wife began to reminisce about their lives.

Thirty-three years ago, our friends were young students in a foreign country called America.  The husband was pursuing studies at a college in a huge American city while his wife, a new mother with limited English skills, stayed home with Baby.  On their first day in their new city, they attempted to board the public transit train.  However, the door shut abruptly leaving the husband on the train station platform and the wife and babe-in-arms on the crowded train unaccompanied.  Horrified at the thought of his wife and baby hurtling to an unknown destination, the husband ran alongside the train shouting in his native tongue for the train to stop.  Panic seized the young wife as she clutched her baby to her chest while her knees threatened to give way beneath her.  She had no idea what to do.  Just then a kindly man standing beside her made her understand that she shouldn’t get off at the next stop.  He advised her to get off at the second stop and wait for her husband.  She felt calmer and did as the man suggested.  He got off the train with her and Baby and even sat beside her on the bench while she waited.  Meanwhile, the husband was desperate to rescue his wife and anxiously awaited the next train, praying she would exit the train and wait for him at the next station.  Upon boarding the next train, however, he realized his train wouldn’t be stopping at the next stop, but would go directly to the following stop since his train was a type of express train.  Heartsick, he tried to scan the platform for a glimpse of his family at the next station as he sped by.  Arriving at the second stop he caught sight of his beloved wife and baby sitting alone on the bench of the platform.
“How did you know that you should wait for me at this stop instead of the first stop?” he asked incredulously.
“Oh, this kind man right here beside me told me not to get off until this stop,” she replied turning to the man.
But no one was next to her.
Puzzled, her husband explained that he had seen her from his train window sitting alone on the bench.
I don’t know how you would explain it, but they and we are convinced that God sent his angel to protect that vulnerable, frightened young mother lost on a crowded train.

“the Lord has heard your cry of distress. . . She said, ‘You are the God who sees me.'”  Genesis 16:11,13

“Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.”  Hebrews 1:14
For one school year, they lived in their assigned, cramped one-room apartment with a Murphy bed and one small window which overlooked a rough area of town.  Their tiny shared kitchen was in the basement which was several flights down.  She was alone during the day except for her baby.  Her husband was in school all day and studied in the evenings.  Their first months were desperate because their stipend didn’t come through for three months.  They had no food money, but a bag of groceries appeared each day at their door.  Concerned that they had no money to buy warm clothing for the cutting cold weather, a fellow-student gave the wife a hand-me-down winter coat.  The problem was that the student was quite tall and our friend wasn’t.  The coat was so long that it tripped her and caused a bad fall down a full flight of concrete stairs into the subway.  Bystanders rushed over to help because our friend was lying still at the bottom of the stairs.  “She’s dead,” said someone.  But our small friend gathered her courage and managed to stand up and press on to her destination.  Depressed and desperate, she wrote an anguished letter to her husband’s father, the only one she could turn to in her need.  (She was an orphan.)

“Please send tickets for Baby and me to return home.  I can’t do this any longer.”  His return letter finally arrived. But he refused to fulfill her request.  Kindly he explained that he cannot take his son’s baby and wife away from him.  So she persevered, leaning on her heavenly Father.  She repeated these verses to herself to bolster her determination:

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.  And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”  Romans 5:3-5

Eventually, she was able to attend English classes.  From 9:00 pm to Midnight!  Traveling alone on public transit and walking unaccompanied after midnight in a heavy crime area, she bravely persevered and grew more fluent.  A new friend tried to encourage her in her dangerous situation.  “Don’t worry.  You’re Asian.  When thugs see your face, they will assume you know Kung Fu.  If you’re threatened, wave your arms and let out a yell.”

This is just one episode of the lives of these sacrificial servants of God who went on to selflessly serve the needs of others on multiple continents.  Look for future installments in this blog of the life story of this amazing couple.

All this caused me to ponder some questions.  How would their first year in the US have been different if others (besides the food provider and the coat lady) had come alongside this struggling couple and provided much-needed friendship and assistance?   I know from personal experience that you don’t have to be outstanding or gifted to lend a hand to another human being.  In fact, just this morning as we were boarding our airplane, I noticed the lady ahead of me was laboring to walk down the aisle to her assigned seat.  Crippled and struggling, she touched my heart.  What could I do?  Then I remembered that at the gate before we started boarding, the airline personnel commented on the light flight (low number of passengers).  Why couldn’t I ask the flight attendant to seat the crippled lady closer to the front of the plane instead of her assigned seat in the back?  All I had to do was speak up and remind the attendant that there would be vacant seats and perhaps she could find one closer to the front for the hurting lady.  “Of course,” she said.  “We want to make our customers comfortable.”  And shortly the lady was seated in a row close to the front.

Whether you commit to long-term assistance or just seize a random opportunity to help, there are so many hurting people out there that could use a helping hand.  Let’s keep our eyes and hearts open so we can respond to those in need.

“Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.”  Galatians 6:10