OT, but valuable: What Goes Around Comes Around

[Noah Zark]

The thread last week for "those who don't believe" by Sixgun Jr. reminded me of an incident that occured in the late 80s. Not near as dramatic, but it reinforced what I was taught.

After my maternal grandfather retired he was sort of the town "fix-it" guy. He had a basement workshop usually full of other folks' small appliances and power tools. He'd repair burned out motors by rewinding, enlisting me as a combination "turns of wire counter" and "wire spool unwind tension device." My grandmother used to get put out by his activities, thinking that he didn't charge enough (he didn't), but Gramps would tell me time and again, "Be sure to help people whenever and whereever you can. Don't expect any payback, don't take any money. Some day, when you need help, someone else will be there for you." I truly wish I had $20 for every time I heard him say that; I could afford a nice Uberti 73 repro and have enough left for a Colt 3rd gen SAA. But I digress. Gramps passed on in 1976, but I never forgot his teachings, be it motor repair or helping others.

Fast forward to 1988 or so, and I'm still in Corporate America visiting a sister plant that someone higher up thought needed help. I rented a red Camaro at St. Louis airport and drove to the plant. I missed the correct entrance and turned into an unused contractor entrance and in doing a 3-point, put the one front wheel in the ditch, causing the left rear wheel to lift off the ground.

I walked over to the truck delivery entrance and long story short a chemical truck driver making a delivery offered to drag the Camaro out of the ditch. We rode his truck over to where the car sat all cuttywampus. The driver hooked up the chain, wouldn't let me touch a thing, had me leave it in neutral with the wheels straight and pulled it right out.

I took out my wallet and the driver said, "No, I won't take anything. I've always been taught to help people when I can, and somebody will be there for me when I need it."

I told the driver that I'd been taught the same. I put out my hand and said, "Thank You. By the way, I'm Noah Zark."

"Nice to meet you. I'm George Howard," he replied, and got into his truck.

My late grandfather's name was George Howard.

Noah

[Iron_Marshal]

Great story! I'm sure happier for having read it today. I got tickled when I read the word Cuttywumpus. I had a photography instructor who referred to taking pictures askew as Cattywumpus and I use the word whenever possible. Thanks for sharing.

[claybob86]

Great story!

[Sixgun]

Whoa! Noah, that was somethin'! I am a very, very firm believer in karma, whether its good or bad. I have done things wrong in the past and it came around to bite me--you know where. And good deeds have been rewarded. As we all get older, we sure do get wiser.---Great story---------------Sixgun

[JohnnyReb]

Great story. Thanks for sharing. We all need this reminder.

[Hobie]

Really!?! I've had a few things in that vein happen to me as well but never with the name "coincidence".

[rjohns94]

Paying it forward:

It was interesting that a movie came out with this name, and now we have a thread in the classified section with the same name. I was taught this principle not by a family member but by a complete stranger whom I don't even know his name. Here is my version of the story that reinforces Noah's and Sixgun Jr's and others:

I was a senior in high school, my parents were away at the beach in Ocean City, Maryland for the weekend and it was saturday morning. I was driving to my girlfriends house when I stopped in a business parking lot to make a phone call to tell her I was coming over (long before cell phones, 1975 in fact). While talking to her, I looked back over my shoulder and the car was gone. I thought someone had stollen it. I hung up in a panic. I just could not believe the car (my mothers ltd) was gone. This was early on a saturday, the parking lot was nearly empty (one car) and there was little traffic passing by. How did this possibly happen? Then I heard a faint radio and going across the parking lot, the radio got louder and eventually it led to my car. The car (an automatic) obviously did not get put in park and instead in reverse. The car had rolled across the parking lot, through a split rail fence and down a huge hill (on top of a pallet) into the bottom of borrow pit filled with sand. I was bare foot and walked down to the car and just before I got in, stepped on a bottle and sliced my foot and toes to the bone. I tried to drive the car but it was on the skid and wheels were off the ground. The sand would have never allowed me to get it out. There I was, bleeding, cut severly, no money, no way to get the car out of the pit and alone.

The one car in the parking lot belonged to a man in the business. He saw the predictament I was in, called the tow trucks, paid for them to pull the car out and dressed my wounds. He didn't give me his name but offered Christ's Grace and love to me in such a way that he made a lasting impression on me. That weekend, when my parents arrived home, they took me to the hospital where they wanted to remove my toes. We said no and eventually they healed. The scars are still visible. I never told my parents what happened, just saying I stepped on a bottle. I went back to the business later that coming week, having withdrawn the money from my savings account to pay the man. The business was closed, never to open. He had been there to clean out the office on the last weekend. I never knew his name but vowed to "pay it forward" always.

I will never fully pay that dept forward, just as I can't pay the debt that Christ paid for me. I can only offer myself, as a living sacrifice, to HIM whom I love, and to those HE would have me love. I try to practice that in my daily life, in my missions, in my work and family and friends. I am always paying it forward. Some on this forum have experienced it, others will. At work, a young co-worker needed a car and I donated one and paid multiple times to have it repaired and maintained over the last two years.

I am so blessed by this one act. Jim T's post recently was so very inspirational and true. Random acts suggested on his blog that affect others are exactly how I have been paying forward the act of kindness and Grace that man offered me. Christ did the ultimate in Paying it Forward as he died on the cross for all of our sins, past present and future. I live in the shadow of the Grace of the cross. I hope I am blessed to continue to pay it forward for many years.

blessings.

[Jay Bird]

WOW, That's an awesome story. Glad to see my post helped remember that.

[C. Cash]

Great posts fellas! Thanks for sharing those.

[Jaguarundi]

Great posts fellas! Thanks for sharing those.

+1 Excellent reminder on the mysterious bigger picture !

[Noah Zark]

Really!?! I've had a few things in that vein happen to me as well but never with the name "coincidence".

Really. Same name.

Twenty years later and I still get goosebumps when I think about it.

Noah

[brucew44guns]

13 years ago I made an appointment to see the man whom I hoped would become my father-in-law. He was 81 years old, his daughter was 55, and I was 50. I did the right thing, coming to him and asking his permission to marry his daughter who had been single for 12 years. Her dad and I have been good friends all the way through these years. About 4 years ago, I asked him if I could buy 5 acres of land from him, so my wife and I could build a new house on the land. She is an only heir, I knew one day she would inherit the whole place---a 160 acre farm. I did not want to be presumptious however, I offered to buy the 5 acres. Instead, he deeded over the entire quarter section into our names. The lawyer who did the paper work for us asked him if he wanted a weasel clause, in the event his daughter should die while he was yet alive, allowing the land to revert back to him. There was no hesitation--he said "NO", the land will be Bruce's. When you treat your father-in-law with honor, you might get some honor back from him. He's 94 this Friday.

[LeverBob]

Woooooo....I got the heebie jeebies over that one.

What a neat story Noah...I learned the same thing too early on. It works just fine!

LeverBob

[Gun Runner]

Along Bruces44 line, my father in law and I tolorated each. I showed respect to him everytime I was around him. He passed on a year and half ago. In his final 2 weeks on earth he told my wife that he had figgered out I wasant a dummy, and had some smarts. Wife explained to him I had spent over 20 yrs in the navy and Had 2 colledge degrees, which I had worked in both fields. He had a thing for turkey sandwiches , hot or cold. He left this world fed and happy with what he liked. I was just glad he accepted me after 13 yrs, and left us with a good feeling.

Gun Runner

[2ndovc]

Great stories Guys!!

[AmBraCol]

Thanks for the stories, guys. Indeed, the world would be a better place if we would all live that way. I know I've been the recipient of a number of kindnesses over the years - and praise God that I've been able to pass a few on as well. Speaking of which, there's a project I need to go finish up today. Pay it forward, someday it will come back to you - with interest incalculable.

[Hobie]

Really!?! I've had a few things in that vein happen to me as well but never with the name "coincidence".

Really. Same name.

Twenty years later and I still get goosebumps when I think about it.

Noah

I think there's a reason for such things. Not been smart enough to always figure out what the reason was... For sure it is confirmation of things larger than ourselves.

[Noah Zark]

Really!?! I've had a few things in that vein happen to me as well but never with the name "coincidence".

Really. Same name.

Twenty years later and I still get goosebumps when I think about it.

Noah

I think there's a reason for such things. Not been smart enough to always figure out what the reason was... For sure it is confirmation of things larger than ourselves.

I can shed some light on what I took to be the reason for that "personalized" wake-up call. Back in the mid/late 80s there was a lot of "stuff" going on in my life that got me distracted and "off the rails" a bit. Tremendous responsibility at work supervising a successful $600-million expansion project that cam ein ahead of time and on budget, followed by a stint as a roving corporate "troubleshooter" at other plants in the company. I temporarily lost sight of some "core values" that Gramps and others taught me, and needed a dope slap to get me squared away.

-- I had been at that facility many times before. Why did I miss the turn into the correct visitors parking area?

-- I've done dozens of 3-point turns. Why was I lazy/sloppy doing that one, blaming it on an unfamiliar rental car?

-- I didn't want to be there at that time, having other more pressing tasks and a tight deadline. I saw myself being sent there by the head office just to put pressure on that plant because of mediocre performance and a rep the place had for being a "maverick" or "We'll do it our way" plant. My heart was not in the work; I visualized myself as a political pawn in someone elses' fight. I forgot a personal motto, "Tenui nec dimittam," or, "I shall take hold and not let go" and elected to wallow in self-pity.

I stood there on that sandy dirt access road, leaning against the Camaro and shaking like mad with repeated chills after George the chem truck driver drove back to the delivery entrance. I wasn't myself in the review meetings that afternoon, and I frequently had to ask people to repeat what they said. Folks thought I was ill, and I didn't bother to correct their impressions. I thought about the incident the rest of the day and much of the next, as well as during the drive to the StL airport and the flight home. And I made some changes the minute I stepped onto the jetway and off the plane at my home airport.

It was a personalized dope slap, all right. Pure and simple.

And I had it coming.

Noah

[rjohns94]

thank you Noah. Takes a lot to share things that ring to our core. Your post is a blessing to many.

[Pisgah]

25 years ago, my business was located in a small shop at the intersection of two rural roads. Late one hot afternoon I stepped out front for a break, and saw an old VW stopped across the way. Its owner, a young black man, was accompanied by his 3 year old son. It was obvious he was having car trouble, and the young one was hot, uncomfortable, and getting mighty cranky. I walked across the road and offered my help. He seemed reluctant, even a bit hostile at first, to accept any assistance, but finally he allowed me to help him push the car into my lot. I got his son a cold Coke and jollied the boy a bit, then the Dad and I fiddled with the car a while until it became obvious we weren't going to get it going. When I offered to call a tow truck, he said he couldn't afford one, but he'd like to call his brother. The brother was nowhere to be found. He told me his home was about five miles away, so I offered to tow him there with my pickup truck. We hitched the VW to a tow strap, the tow strap to my old truck, and slowly proceeded the distance to his house. He wanted to pay me for my trouble, but I told him we were all God's children and I knew he'd help me if the situation was reversed. He thanked me profusely, and that was that. I forgot all about the incident.

Ten years later, I was driving home late one night from a church meeting in a town 45 miles from home. It was winter, the temperature in the high 30's, and raining cats and dogs. The road was lonely, and I was ready to be home and in bed. About 5 miles from home, my car suddenly coughed and died. I managed to get it to the shoulder of the road and then, none too happy, spent a half hour under the hood, flashlight in my mouth, trying this and that to get it started, all to no avail. There was nothing for it but to start walking towards home and hope I could flag a ride along the way.

I hadn't walked 100 yards when a car approached me from behind, slowed, and then pulled up beside me. A well-dressed black gentleman rolled down the passsenger-side window and asked, "Sir, do you need a ride?"

"Bless you, Brother, I sure do, if you don't mind!" I got in the car, told him where I lived, and we started off, making a bit of small talk about the weather and the late hour. Within 15 minutes we turned into my driveway, and I thanked him and offered to pay him for his trouble.

"You don't remember me, do you?" he asked. I admitted that I did not remember ever having met him.

"You remember helping an young man and his son in a broken-down old VW?" The memory came back in a rush.

"Sir," he said, "I owe you for more than just a tow. At that time, I hated everyone, especially white people, and I was a lost soul. Your kindness made me suspicious at first, but once we got home that day and you refused money and said we were all God's children, my heart was opened. I came to the Lord, and today I am a minister of the Gospel, and I owe it all to you. I praise Him for giving me this chance to repay you."

WE prayed and wept for joy that night over God's blessing to both of us.

[Blackhawk]

Great experience from all.

Thank you for sharing.

Johnny

[hartman]

I don't usually read OT topics, God Bless you all!!

Hartman

[66GTO]

Thanks fellas. Ya'll just reminded me why I hang out here. This is the best gun forum on the internet.