Who Do I Know?

I walked out of the office with my dog for our afternoon walk. My brain gets tired looking at the computer screen, so I try to be intentional about going outside for a little bit. Yet, our walk was immediately interrupted. A truck had broken down in the alleyway right next to our office.

I looked down to my dog and said “looks like we may not go for a walk.”
His stared back at me judgmentally and seemed to say, “how dare you,” as I led him back inside.

I went back outside and asked what was going on.

“The belt came off…” said a young women, head first under the hood. “You know anything about this kind of stuff?”

“I know next to nothing about motorized vehicles,” I said. I went back inside and asked Matt if he knew anything about engine belts flying off the engine. He didn’t either, but named, “It certainly isn’t good.”

So we asked ourselves the question, “who do I know?”

We started going down our list. We knocked on a couple doors and made a few calls. Ten minutes later, our neighbor who lives down the street came riding over on his bike with his tool box. Quick as a flash he was under the hood, looking at the belt. Five minutes later, he had the belt back on. “Hurrah!” we all shouted.

But the story doesn’t end there.
That darn belt flew right off again once the truck started back up.

“Well, I don’t know,” said our neighbor, “it’s unfortunately something I can’t fix.”
Again we all looked at each other and asked, ”Well, who do we know?”

A few phone calls later…
A couple of warm coffee cups shared together…
Several encouraging words and stories heard…

The tow truck came and ultimately saved the day.

We weren’t able to fix the truck. We weren’t even the ones who knew the tow truck guy.

But, it was a powerful example of neighbors coming together to help each other and asking the question, “who do I know?” When we ask ourselves this question and ask for other’s help, we are widening the circle so we don’t have to bear the burden alone. The young women’s situation was a real bummer. But, it became bearable because neighbors came together to journey with her through the whole ordeal.

So, next time you realize that you “do not know,” ask yourself, “Well, who do I know?”