Many people can’t drive for one reason or another. Some don’t have a driver’s license; some are affected by old age. Others have an illness or a physical handicap that prevents them from driving. And others simply can’t afford a car.
Because of these restrictions, transportation is an issue. Many individuals who can’t drive are always in need of a ride to or from an important appointment, church, or various errands, such as going to the grocery store.
If you don’t already know anyone who is in need of transportation assistance, contact your church or a local assisted-living facility, and obtain the name of someone who has this need. Use your car for transportation and your children as conversationalists.
Other suggestions for ways to help include the following:
• Drive a sick patient to a doctor’s appointment. Help those with illnesses, such as cancer or MS, keep their appointments. Not only do you provide transportation, but you also offer a caring shoulder if needed.
• Take your elderly friend to her beauty parlor appointment. Make a date of it, and have your hair done at the same time.
• Reunite a grandparent with his or her grandchildren. Take someone to watch a grandchild play in a sports game or take part in a school performance.
• Help a shut-in. Call the person to see if he or she needs any groceries delivered. Or perhaps the shut-in wants a few library books to read or audiotapes to listen to.
Unless we find ourselves in that very situation, those of us with a vehicle and a driver’s license may never know the hardship of not having a means of transportation. Lend your time and your “taxi service” to someone who doesn’t have his or her own transportation, and you’ll be providing the person with the blessing of freedom.
Up for Discussion
Who did you choose to help with your taxi service? What was your role in providing it?
Consider the story of the paralyzed man in Mark 2. The man was carried by four of his friends to see Jesus. “Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on” (v. 4). Ponder how the paralyzed man’s friends provided transportation for him since he could not walk himself. Discuss how your own offer of transportation in this activity can be critical to the person who would otherwise not have a means of travel.
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
—Acts 20:35