It was hard to see him at first through the fog. It was a cold and foggy Tuesday morning on the way to take my oldest to school. As I pulled out of our neighborhood, I saw a boy walking in the grass alongside the road. This is a pretty busy road during commute hours, so the mama instincts inside of me began to question if he was able to stay safe. I felt the pull inside of me to help him. As soon as my heart didn’t tell my brain to tell my foot to hit the brake, I drove past him. My head wanted to ask questions like: would his mama be upset if a stranger offered him a ride, would he be willing to get in the car with a stranger and was he walking to the school I imagined he was on his way to? Then, the Holy Spirit quickly rose above the noise of the questions. I made a u-turn put on my hazard lights and pulled alongside him. “Are you going to Mulberry Elementary?” I asked. “Yes”, he replied. “Do you want a ride?”, I inquired. “Yes!”, he exclaimed.
As he got in the car, we began to talk. He was a precious 5th grader who had missed the bus. He was appreciative to have a ride. I gave thanks to the Lord aloud, for providing us the opportunity to pick him up. I assured the boy that the Lord provides even when we don’t see a way. He shared the truth that he wasn’t completely sure of how to get to the school by walking, he was doing his best to remember which way the bus turned. My heart ached at the thought of this boy trying to navigate crossing streets and remembering turns to make it to school. “I might have made it there by lunch,” he continued. I assured him it was my pleasure to get the opportunity to meet him and bring him along on the ride we were already taking. “I decided to have have hope and keep walking,” he declared. Oh how my own heart desperately needed to hear that! The voice of innocent pure hope.
My heart was so full of God’s mercy, not only on the boy, but also on me. Allowing me to have an open seat in our car for him to sit. Allowing me to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit above the earthly questions. Allowing me the privilege of partnering with Him to shepherd this boy to school safely. But the gift above all of these was reminding me to decide to have hope and keep walking. I have to decide to hope even in the midst of places that appear wastelands.