this wasn't on the list.

We made a list.

A list to put others above ourselves.

To give us a platform to discuss loving... giving... preferring.

Today we did something that wasn't on the list.

We were getting ready to pull out of the parking lot of the grocery store when I heard someone having a hard time starting their car. I looked to my right and saw a elderly man (probably in his 80s) struggling with what to do now that his vehicle wouldn't start up. I debated whether or not to do anything... you kind of have to do that when you have 4 kids. I looked around... no one else noticed... or at least they were good at acting like they didn't. I couldn't shake it. I had to act. We called his son on my cell and no one answered. I convinced him to let me drive him home. Isaac's eyes were wide open when "Al" slowly got in the front seat.

"Isaac, this is Al, we are going to give him a ride home."

Al told us all about his wife who passed away 10 years ago, and how much he loved her. He told us how he built the house he lives in back in the 40s. He told us about his 8 kids and how they are his "inheritance from the Lord." It was one of the most fun car rides I have had in a long time... even with Elijah screaming bloody murder in the backseat. 

"I'm so sorry that my son likes to scream."

"That's ok, kids are meant to be loud."

I'll probably never see Al again, but I'm glad I was able to be his "angel" (that's what he kept calling me... I like it!) I'm even more grateful for the conversation it sparked with my son on the way home about preferring others. Even better was the look on Chris' face when my son announced at dinner that "mom picked up some guy at the grocery store and we went to his house."