As I traveled home during an extremely hot afternoon this week, my baby, my life-and-blood, my shiny metal extension of my being gave a shudder and then began to catastrophically fail. When this adventure started, I was out in the boonies, no houses around and very little traffic.
First, my car of 280,000 miles gave a brief shudder. Then its radio cut out followed by the disappearance of the clock's display in the dashboard. A few moments later, the air bag light came on, the speedometer went wild, and the car beginning to lose power.
Fortunately, I kept going long enough to make it 10 miles down the road. There, I saw the first joyous sign of civilization - the parking lot of the Spring Lake's Bethel AME Zion church. Not only that, but there were cars parked at the minister's entrance.
This is one of those church that constantly fill their marque with thoughts and sayings of brotherly love, helping your neighbor, and being a good steward. Even though I was still 5 miles from home, I didn't feel worried as I coasted into the this blessed parking lot.
The first thing I did was prop up my car's hood and check to make sure nothing obvious was wrong. It is extremely embarrassing to ask for help and having them put a wire back into place --- something very simple that you could have put done if you'd only looked in the first place. But not this time. No quick fix or potential embarrassments under my hood.
As I walked to the parked cars, two women exited from the church's back door, happily chatted amongst themselves. They saw me walking towards them with my obvious disabled car behind me. These two upstanding sisters of God got into their cars and continued to stare at me from inside. Even with me cautiously standing by their cars, it took several of "excuse me"s before one lady cracked her window down an inch.
"Excuse me", I said using my best manners. I was glad I still had my business clothes on. "My car has died. Could I use the phone in the church to call AAA?" She just blinked and replied curtly, "Oh, we can't do that. We're just coming from a funeral. Why don't you try one of the house down the road?" With that, she rolled up her window and started her car. As they drove away, I watched as that lady put a cell phone up to her ear. Thanks for the help!
Fortunately, I did find a good Samaritan couple down the road. They let me stand on their porch in the 100 degree heat and make a call with their cordless phone. After another broiling 40 minutes wait at that wonderful parking lot, a beautiful, air-conditioned AAA tow truck arrived. Not a god-send but very close.
Getting stranded by my car wasn't the most unpleasant part of this event. It was experiencing the hypocrisy of yet another church. Every few months or so, members of this 'holy' church come through my neighbor, going door-to-door and invite people to their services. I no longer think they are looking for believers to join their church. Now, I believe they are simply looking for new people who can be easily pried from their money. After all, you can't fleece your flock and fill your coffers if you don't get more of the gullible in the doors.
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