Everyday Saints

How a broken-down car revealed the image of God in the strangers around us.

In our divisive world today, it’s easy to think that anyone who doesn’t think, believe, or act like you is an enemy. I had an experience this week that flies in the face of that misunderstanding. If you would indulge me, I’d like to share my experience with you along with an encouragement that the world, and the people God created, aren’t as bad as you may think.

This week, after flying home from our son’s wedding, I found my car in long-term parking unable to start properly. The chain of events that followed normally would have frustrated me greatly, but God gave me grace through the people I met.

I counted seven different people who wanted to help, tried to help, and left wishing they could have been more help. Seven people who made my situation more relaxed and controlled, when I would have usually been frustrated and stressed. Most helped not knowing anything about me. The ones who did know me treated me like family, not just a friend.

Listen to this list of everyday saints:

• A bus driver who stopped in my long-term parking area and delayed his route to try to jump my car with his bus, unsuccessfully.

• A man at an auto parts store who simply overheard my conversation with the store employee and offered me a ride since my car wasn’t working.

• A Lebanese mechanic who interrupted his lunch and called another electrical specialist friend. Through friendly conversation, I found out he lost his father to a bombing in their home country in 1982. These two men worked on my car for about 30 minutes in front of me and apologized when they couldn’t fix it. I offered money for the effort and they wouldn’t take it.

I’m only an hour into my potentially stressful situation and four people looked out for me, reflecting God’s image and kindness. I dropped my car off at another specialist and took an Uber home. The next day the kindness continued:

• This new mechanic couldn’t figure out the complicated electrical problem either. He drove it to a friend’s shop, again, not taking any money.

• A Mariners’ Church member not only drove their car-less pastor to a church meeting that night, but bought me dinner along the way.

• The next day a neighbor, who is an off-duty cop, drove me the 40 miles to pick up my car.

I tell you these details as a feel-good bit of reading that doesn’t involve crime, execution, war, or AI taking over the world. It’s not that I just “got lucky” and ran into the right people—that’s not the whole story.  God has created everyone in His image and we often miss seeing Him in others because of the divisions between us.

Scripture teaches us that at the heart of all humans is the image of God—perhaps distorted, but present. This is easy to forget when we only read, watch, or assume the extreme versions of the distortions of that image. We should not demonize those who are not like us or think like us on every topic. They may come from a different viewpoint politically, culturally, or philosophically, but the image of God is still present.

According to Scripture, ultimately the only true restoration of the image of God comes through Jesus and the restorative power of knowing Him. He is the one who “renews our mind” (Rom 12:2), unveils His Kingdom and heals us (Matt 9:35), and who is making “all things new” (Rev. 21:5).

Only through Christ revealing Himself to us and others does this restoration take place. When we surrender our lives to Him, we become more like Him. However, this doesn’t preclude those who don’t know Him fully yet from doing good works that “they were created in advance to do” (Eph 2:10). When others who don’t think like us do good things, it’s the image of God peeking through our fallen nature that Christ came to restore.

The people who helped me this week were of different religions, creeds, and backgrounds, but they are still God’s creation, created in His likeness. We should speak to them, not as lost causes or enemies, but as fellow children of God who need to know our Creator more fully in Christ Jesus.

We also should be looking for opportunities to love others, no matter who they are. This is why Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, using extreme examples:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt 5:38-44)

When we treat those who are perceived as enemies as friends, we display the powerful love God had for us when He died on the cross for our sin. Only then will we see this world and those who believe differently than us politically, religiously, and culturally as friends and fellow sojourners in this world God has created. Only then will we recognize and become the everyday saint God has called us to be.

Blessings and peace,

Rev. Todd