God does not judge by external appearance. (Galatians 2:6 , niv)
Dodie Gadient was a fifth-grade schoolteacher who decided one day to take a vacation. She’d been teaching her students about the wonderful landmarks throughout the country and decided to see them for herself. So she hopped into her truck with a camper in tow and launched out on a drive across America.
Just outside of Sacramento, while rounding a curve on I-5, the water pump on her truck started blowing steam. Dodie tried to pull over, but her large camper still took up half the lane. Cars backed up for miles and angry drivers honked in irritation as they slowly edged around her, but no one stopped to help. Leaning against the trailer, Dodie was near tears when she began to pray. “Please, God, send me an angel … preferably one with mechanical experience.” Within a few minutes a huge Harley drove up and parked in front of her. A large tattooed man with black hair and a full beard stepped off of it. He was sporting a black leather jacket with “Hell’s Angels” emblazed on the back. Dodie froze with fear.
Without saying a word, the man glanced at Dodie and went to work on her truck. Within minutes he had flagged down a large truck and convinced the driver to tow them to a safer spot away from traffic. Then he calmly opened the hood and started removing the broken water pump. Before long he had the truck put back together and running smoothly. Dodie summoned the courage to tell him thanks and then carried on a brief conversation. Before leaving the man looked her straight in the eye and said, “Don’t judge a book by its cover. You may not know who you’re talking to.” With that he smiled and drove away.
Some people have a bad habit of crawling out of the boxes we put them into. Just when we think we have them labeled right, they do something to prove us wrong. I’m just as guilty as anyone of placing motives and attaching blame based on the little information I have. And I’m sure others have been quick to do the same with me. But that’s a shallow way to live and an unhealthy pattern to get into. “God does not judge by external appearances,” Paul tells us (Galatians 2:6 , niv), and neither should we. People deserve the benefit of our doubt. And we deserve the benefit of theirs.
1 comment:
I still like the original story as told by my aunt Dodie. I have heard this account retold many times with the actual events changed to met one message or another. I can say that she and the Hell's Angels rider are still friends after so many years.
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