Having No Car means Having to Ask for Help

Yesterday we had to take a trip outside the reach of public transit. Our house group Bible study was to meet at a home of one of the members. Arriving at their house requires taking the Toronto TTC Subway to the "end of the line", then catch a bus to the cross street nearest the home, then walk about 5 minutes to arrive. A 5 minute walk is not a big deal, but transferring to the city bus can take some time, especially during rush hour.

We were ready and willing to do that, but it occurred to me early in the day that this is a great opportunity to learn a new skill of asking for some assistance. I am coming to realize through this adventure that one of the drawbacks of always having a car available is a self-reliance that tends to forget about the blessings that can come from allowing others to get involved in your life. There is fine line, I know, between "accepting help" from others and "taking advantage" of others. But both of those situations involve relationship while, conversely, choosing to do everything on my own pushes relationship to the background. So my "relationship antennae" are up, and need to stay up, evaluating whether my requests for assistance go too far. I think that is always a good thing for relationships. Monitoring relationship is much a better place to be than rejecting relationship in favor of self-reliance.

So this adventure of life-without-a-car is forcing me to get back in the habit of expanding relationships with others. That is not always easy. Especially for me.

The end of the story? Within minutes of sending an email to my group asking if someone could pick us up at the subway stop, I had TWO offers from friends that would "love" to meet us there. WooHoo!

BTW the meeting was great! We shared a delicious meal of "taco soup", bread, olives, and dessert. The fellowship was warm, welcoming, and wonderful. And as we discussed Genesis 3 and the challenges of resisting temptation, we learned things about one another and ourselves that deepened our relationships as fellow disciples of Jesus Christ. (And we even got a ride back to the subway!)