Around this time last year, I had written a post about a couple uplifting stories that needed to be shared. This morning, I found another such great article to get 2014 started the right way.
Meet Abigail Sailors, an 18-year-old college freshman who serves tables at a Cracker Barrel in Lincoln, Nebraska. She's studying youth ministry and psychology at Trinity Bible College, and has to pay her own way through school because she's the youngest of five siblings who have all spent most of their lives in foster care. Her parents were in a car accident when she was only 7 months old; her mother suffered a brain injury in the crash and hasn't ever fully recovered, and her father wasn't a good father at all, to put things mildly.
Last Thursday, two men walked into the Cracker Barrel where she worked and specifically asked for the server who was in the worst mood possible. They clearly had an agenda to brighten someone's day, and "unfortunately" the hostess who had seated them had to tell them no one who worked in the restaurant was that unhappy. They had to settle for Abigail.
She went on to tell them all about her life up to that point, and how she and all her siblings had bounced around between living with their abusive father and various foster homes. All five children had finally found a loving set of foster parents by the time Abigail was 9 years old. She felt blessed to have a warm house to come home to every day, even though it took her years to find such peace.
Unfortunately for Abigail - and if you read the link I had posted, you already know where this story is going - she had to put her college plans on hold to save up more money since she was paying her way. In an incredible coincidence, one of the two men was an alumnus of Trinity Bible College as well, and he wanted to help Abigail in her education.
He broke out his checkbook and cut two checks out for her. The first was made out to Trinity Bible College for $5000, and the second was to Abigail for $1000 for any school-related expenses. They also had tipped her $100 for lunch.
I'm blown away by this story. These two men were modern day Samaritans, only looking to share their faith and do something good for a complete stranger. They obviously weren't in it for their own personal gain or interest at all, and there was no way either they or the hostess could have known about Trinity Bible College uniting them and Abigail. That coincidence could have possibly affected their decision, but that's beside the point. They helped change a young girl's life for the better, and it was for all the right reasons.
This story is another one of those where saying, "Thank you," doesn't do justice or feel adequate. The closest I can relate to a story like this is when I got my job offer to bring me out of the doldrums of unemployment over 2 1/2 years ago. I still feel in debt to this day to my buddy who had originally gotten me the interview in the first place. I fully realize that he had nothing to do with the decision-making process as to whether I'd get the job, but he got my foot in the door. I'd even argue scoring an interview is the single most difficult part of the job-seeking process.
Abigail's situation is quite different since she's only in her first year of college, so the gesture's meaning resonated that much deeper with her. Hopefully she will cross paths with one or both men later on in life after she's finished college so they can see how far their gesture had gone. Ideally in 20 years or so, Abigail can pay the favor forward to another 18-year-old kid waiting tables who's struggling to make ends meet as well. Maybe that's the best way for her to properly thank her two Good Samaritans.
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