A SINGLE DROP OF HOPE

Ok... some stories are just worth telling.

After I got my car at LaGuardia, I put into my phone's GPS the address of my hotel. I proceed to my destination in Westbury, NY on Long Island. As I got closer, my Telnav guided me with explicit instructions towards my destination. Her final instructions to me were "Your destination is on your left!". I begin to notice something is seriously odd as I get closer to what is supposed to be my hotel. I'm driving by a huge graveyard! I thought surely it must be just on the other side, but what a strange place to put a hotel. As I got up to the enormous gates she says to me again, "Your destination is ON YOUR LEFT!" There is nothing else around but these gigantic closed gates to the cemetery!  As I roll by it she says, "Rerouting" and has me go ahead and turn around. As I approach the cemetery she again says, "YOUR DESTINATION IS ON YOUR RIGHT!". I stop dead in my tracks (pun intended), right in front of those huge gates and looked down at my phone! I then looked at the hotel address to make sure I put it in correctly and then back up at those ominous, not so inviting, gates.

So, I proceeded to drive to a gas station to inquire as to if the graveyard was indeed "my final destination". The attendant tells me that the hotel is actually about a mile back before the graveyard! So I actually passed it long before the graveyard.

I finally find the hotel. I go to check in and there is this older black woman, who I believe is the manager, and another young clerk standing behind the counter. As I approach the desk I ask, "What is your address here?" She tells me the correct address and then looked straight at me with a big smile and said, "It took you to the graveyard, huh? It takes everybody to the graveyard!". I told her it had me a bit worried. She laughed and said, "Oh no honey, I can tell it's not your time yet!" I laughed and got all up in my black gospel self on her and said... "I knew it wasn't..." and then we both said at the same time, "because the gates were closed!" We roared with laughter and I told her I really needed that. I said I'd be ok if it was time and the gates were open cuz I made that all right with Jesus a long time ago. She laughed and said, "I knew it!" I said, "I knew it wasn't time cuz I wasn't hearin' any voice sayin', 'Come up here'... so I breathed a sigh of relief!" For about 5 minutes we went back and forth as if we had known each other forever. We sorta had church right there in the lobby, if you know what I mean. We were high-fivin' and carin' on... then she looked at me and said, "I needed this moment today... I had a hard morning." I smiled at her and said, "So did I".

The other desk clerk just stood there watching us go back and forth laughing along with us. I looked at her and said, "You are so special!" I then turned to the other clerk and said, "Do you realize what a blessing Cynthia is to you?" He said, "Yes... I've worked here now for three years and I know it well." I said to him, "Cherish her... there aren't many like her! It's precious." He shook his head and agreed.

You know... God knows exactly what we need, when we need it. It so lifted my spirits to see her face beaming with God all over it. In one single moment my atmosphere changed. God had her waiting for me and knew I was desperate for a drop of His love... and He instantly quenched my thirst.

Be love to someone... be open to God and don't be afraid to reach out. You just never know that the person you're looking at could be desperately waiting for a single drop of hope and to know God cares.

© 2012 Steven Bliss
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