grace in random acts of kindness

today started off rotten.  just plain rotten.  it was cold and rainy.  i had a full day's worth of work ahead of me, and was planning to be at school for the majority of the day.  and right about then, as i was thinking about 42 million things, i neglected to think about what was probably most important at that moment and locked my keys in my car.  can we say thank God for AAA?  because i definitely was thanking God for AAA!  

finally got my car back and had to take it in to the dealership because a little light came on my dash saying there was some kind of problem with my tires.  i figured it might take an hour or so, and brought my ipad just in case.  it was a lifesaver- turned out i had time to catch up on ALL my tv shows!  that's right - i was there over 5 hours.  a blessing in disguise, as i never would have taken the time to sit still NOT doing work for that long otherwise!  turns out there were other issues, totaling to about $300 worth of work.  the timing couldn't have been worse - my checking account is running very low and i need every penny for christmas gifts!  

i told the service guy that all i could pay for was to get the tire plugged that had a nail in it - the rest would have to wait.  an hour later, he called me up to explain what they had done.  turns out he plugged the tire for free, and did the other things too!  the grand total on the bill was $42.  seriously?!  i almost cried.  i thanked him so much for his kindness.  he said whether or not i could afford them, all of those things needed to be done, and i had waited patiently all day, and it's the season of giving, so it just seemed like the right thing to do.

what an incredible, unexpected, random act of kindness!  i am thinking about how to best pay it forward...