The Chain of Love

Have you ever heard that country song by Clay Walker called "The Chain of Love?" It's a pretty good one!! Here's how it goes...

He was driving home one evening,
In his beat up Pontiac
When an old lady flagged him down,
Her Mercedes had a flat
He could see that she was frightened,
Standing out there in the snow
'Til he said I'm here to help you ma'am,
By the way my name is Joe

She said I'm from St. Louis,
And I'm only passing through
I must have seen a hundred cars go by,
This is awful nice of you
When he changed the tire,
And closed her trunk
And was about to drive away,
She said how much do I owe you
Here's what he had to say

You don't owe me a thing, I've been there too
Someone once helped me out,
Just the way I'm helping you
If you really want to pay me back,
Here's what you do
Don't let the chain of love end with you

Well a few miles down the road,
The lady saw a small cafe
She went in to grab a bite to eat,
And then be on her way
But she couldn't help but notice,
How the waitress smiled so sweet
And how she must've been eight months along,
And dead on her feet

And though she didn't know her story,
And she probably never will
When the waitress went to get her change,
From a hundred dollar bill
The lady slipped right out the door,
And on a napkin left a note
There were tears in the waitress's eyes,
When she read what she wrote

You don't owe me a thing,
I've been there too
Someone once helped me out,
Just the way I'm helping you
If you really want to pay me back,
Here's what you do
Don't let the chain of love end with you

That night when she got home from work,
The waitress climbed into bed
She was thinkin' about the money,
And what the lady's note had said
As her husband lay there sleeping,
She whispered soft and low
Everything's gonna be alright, I love you, Joe

We experience a situation today much like the ones described in this song. We were having lunch after church today with some friends at a restaurant where the tables all have 8 chairs so often times you sit with some strangers. We got to talking to the couple and their 2 kids who were seated at the same table as us. As it turned out they had gone to ACU several years back, known one of Collin and my teacher's from Dallas Christian, had a sister that goes to the same church I grew up at and my parents still go to, and oddly enough go to the same church as us here in Abilene. And yet after all of that we had still never met them before. All of that is really neither here nor there because the point of my story is what happened as we were about to head up to the front to pay our bills and leave. The husband of the couple got up to go pay his bill and as he was walking from the table he pick up our bill and the bill of the couple we were with and told us Merry Christmas and paid for our lunches!!! This is one of those things that you don't really expect to happen when you go to lunch. We graciously thanked the couple for their kindness and went on our way.

I immediately thought of the song above after this happened!! This is one of those things you want to pass along. Just like the song says..."Don't let the chain of love end with you." I want to make sure that chain doesn't stop with me. It doesn't take much, paying for someone's gas or someone's food behind you in the drive through. All it takes is a small act that will hopefully be contagious. It really shouldn't take someone doing something nice for me to get me to do something nice for others, but sadly enough sometimes that's what it takes. I hope that I can learn from this experience and make this a common attitude in my life.