You Need a Tow Truck, Where?

This week on the Kingdom Blogger’s blog, we are exploring the gift of the Holy Spirit called goodness.

Immediately, I thought of the end of Psalm 23 where it says…”goodness and mercy will follow me all of the days of my life forever.” That has always been of a particular comfort to me. I think it has always meant to me, a sense of protection. A recent popular saying “I’ve got your back” is similar and I like that too.

Years ago, my husband and I walked into a recommended Car Repair Shop, there was on the wall, a shadow box containing a newspaper article with an Award.

As I read the article, I was blown away.

It talked about Gary Moore, the owner of Moore’s Automotive. One of his customers needed a tow job and Gary responded. In and of itself that might not seem unusual, but there was a reason that this response earned notoriety.

 Gary’s shop is in Vernon CT and the car was near New York City, approximately 200 miles away. The owner of the car was a good customer. Gary went to help him. I can understand why the Newspaper noted this. An act like that is highly unusual.

 Even though this event was noteworthy, it expressed the kind of businessman that we came to know in Gary. There is never any question about the integrity of the work in his shop. When we need repairs, we trust the necessity. When something was very expensive, we were told, by the age of the car, it wouldn’t be worth it. We trust that the prices they charge are fair as well. I know that there are many who can attest to the fact that they chose Gary’s because of his reputation

Some of the ways that goodness is defined is character and decency.

In our dealings with Gary and his crew, over the many years that we have used him, these characteristics were evident. These are attributes that can’t be faked. They are either there or not.

I remember Gary talking about his dad. I was touched by the fact that he as an adult man, talked to his dad every day. I thought “Wow that is an amazing thing to have such a relationship with your dad” I know that Gary misses those calls as his dad passed on. Without knowing his dad, I can surmise that the way Gary conducted his business was influenced by his dad.

I myself learned about these characteristics from my own earthly dad. He exuded honesty and integrity, as he dealt with a corrupt governmental system, at his job, to help his fellow firefighters

My dad had some very strong opinions. He didn’t always make friends in his dealings. He seemed oblivious to the opposition.  I recalled an incident that happened when I was younger. I got the mail that day that was addressed to him. It was a postcard with a death threat on it. Although it was very scary for me, he kept on doing good.

In the end, many fellow firefighters expressed similar sentiments about my dad, at his funeral. This was repeated again and again “I may not have always agreed with your dad, but he was honest and had a good character. I trusted and admired him.” In a way, that was a great comfort to hear. Somehow I think my dad would have shrugged off the compliments and just continued to be a man of integrity because it was the right thing to do.

On a Radio Talk Show yesterday, they were asking callers if they ever were involved in an Election and used dirty campaign tactics and how did that work?

One man called in to say that he had run for a political Office. He said he was pressured to smear his opponent. He always said no. He said that he respected his opponent, as a decent human being. He said the only thing is that they did not hold the same positions. He ended up saying that the other guy was a better politician. He said of himself, that he felt he was a better policy maker. The host asked “Did you win?” The caller said “No, but I wouldn’t change the way I handled my campaign.” For me it was refreshing to hear someone, actually act like a decent human, during an election.

Showing forth goodness, would never be something a person would include on a resume. Unfortunately, the hiring party would probably, cynically laugh.

Wouldn’t that be the type of employee you would want to hire?

Linda Maynard