Samuel and Tom

I was enjoying a pleasant ride home from work. The sky was bright, the afternoon full of potential. I then saw him. He was standing on the side of the onramp to the highway in front of his car. The hood was open, and he stood there with a look that seemed totally perplexed: as if he had never encountered such a dilema before. I had sympathy on him, and decided to offer him any help I could. His serpentine belt had broken. Being in a bad place to work on a car, as it was just around a bend on the ramp, my suggestion was to get it towed. I offered to go get a phone number for him to call. I did. When I came back, he was not in the same place, but further up the way and in a safer spot in a breakdown lane. Apparently a trooper had pushed him there. When I arrived, he was talking with some emergency service person for the highway. This man said it would be fine just to fix the car here as long as it was pushed off the highway, rather than pay for the tow service. This seemed like a good idea, so I gave the car a nudge, the car was parked in the grass, and the car owner and I took a drive to the autoparts store. We talked. His name was Samuel. His english was poor, but understandable. He was from the Dominican Repeblic. I gave him some of my testimony. He claimed that he went to a christian church. We got the belt and came back to the car. I hadn't ever put on a serpentine belt before, and didn't know how difficult it was. My hopes were that it would be pretty much open, without removing any bolts. That seemed to be the case as I looked it over. As I was planning my course of action, the man from the emergency service returned. He started to talk to Samuel as I began putting on the belt. Apparently, the state troopers had come by and run a background on the license plate. Come to find out, there was a warrant from Florida out for the owner of the registration of the car. Samuel denied having anything against him in Florida. It didn't matter though, really. The troopers could be back any minute and arrest him if he was still around. I, for one, didn't want to be around; but I was still putting on this belt! Samuel continued to deny any charges that could be brought against him, and refused to make the calls to clear himself. I decided that once that belt was on, I would be out of there. It was on with little problem, and I said my goodbyes: saying I didn't need Samuel's money or phone number, and telling him that I'd be praying for him. I am praying for him, but it looks as though this one who looked so innocent and helpless may have had it coming to him...

...unlike Tom. I've been playing basketball on Monday nights in Merrimack Valley with a group of Christian guys. One of these guys is Tom: a short Vietnamese guy who plays like a wolf on the court. I found out a couple months ago that he is living in the same apartment complex as I am. He is attending the church in Merrimack, and seemed to be doing great. He had talked about getting together sometime for a movie or something, seeing as we're living so close. So I talked to him tonight, hoping to get something together with him. After talking with him, though, I no longer felt that it would just be fun to get together with him, but my moral obligation to. It seems that he's been moving around quite a bit: either having bad roommates, or even being cheated. Now he is living with two roommates, both of which are unsaved. His work is irregular, and he is taking classes in two colleges. He kept saying that he would really enjoy getting together with me, even though he only knows me through basketball, and about all we've said to eachother before now was "Good game", "Great shot", and such. His entire family is in Vietnam still as well. I thought that this was someone who could really use my help and company. It is certain that he is going to be invited to the next palooza hosted, and I would not be surprized if he became a regular to them. Hope to see you soon, Tom!