There's more than one way to offer a helping hand

​I went into Walmart yesterday afternoon. Not many good stories in my life start with "I went into Walmart." On top of that, soon after I went inside, the skies opened up. I was suddenly in a hostage situation - my captors: Walmart AND mother nature.

While I was waiting on a prescription to be filled, and for the herds of rain to stop pounding against the steel roof above me, I wandered into the eye glasses store. One of my captors asked me, "can I help you?"

There was something strange about the way he asked that from the get go. Like, he seemed excited about the possibility that he might actually be able to help me. Quite the unusual captor he was.

I showed him my eye glasses. One of the arms on my frames had been holding on for dear life the last couple of months. My thoughts had been to just nurse that arm until it was a better time for me to get new glasses. But my captor suggested he could make that arm like brand new.

He took my glasses, which didn't leave me totally blind, so I could still see the man all but dancing toward and then disappearing into a back room. He was back there for less than five minutes before reemerging with my glasses.

Glasses with two perfectly healed arms.

The man handed them to me like he was Jesus just seconds removed from restoring sight to a blind man. I accepted them like I was standing in the presence of a Jesus restoring sight to a blind man.

I asked him what I owed him. He said nothing. (Jesus never charged for his miracles either 🤷‍♂️).

When I walked away from that man, it struck me that there are a lot of ways to help someone. And maybe the best way to help is with a spirit of excitement. Maybe the best way to help is by considering what you are doing might feel like a miracle to the one you're doing it for.

My prescription was finally filled. What seemed like 40 days and night of rain finally stopped. And I walked our the doors and finally on to my car.

On the way there, I stepped in the deepest of puddles. My foot suddenly drenched. That's OK, I thought. Maybe I'm still not able to walk on water, but one miracle was good enough for me today. I'll take it.

And besides, I finally have a good story that starts with "I went into Walmart....".