Missed Opportunities

[David Hunter]

While we all sit back and relax, I'm curious to hear about your "missed opportunities" for helping someone.

I have three that are embedded into my brain, which I'll share one with you know to get things rollin'.

Back in the summer of 2003, I was working at an automotive shop. Well, I was on my way home and I noticed a car off to the side of the road, along with a big chunk of concrete in the middle of the road. The lady was standing on the side of her car with a phone in hand (I imagine it was a flip phone) and I could tell her tire was ripped apart.

What did I do? I kept on driving. I remember thinking to myself I should stop and help, but I thought she already had someone coming out. Plus, I was pretty shy, so I used that as an excuse too.

Well, the next day, I was back at the shop and guess who I saw... it was the lady with the ripped apart tire! I was shocked. There's a gazillion and one places she could have gone and she was at the shop I worked at.

Anywho, it was a missed opportunity to help someone in need. It was a missed opportunity to help out the shop I worked for (Could you imagine if I helped her and then she came to the shop and saw me working there? How much more would she have loved that shop). And, most importantly, it was a missed opportunity to serve God (which, at the time, I wasn't a practicing Christian).

It's one of the missed opportunities I think about from time to time.

When I pray and ask God to forgive me of my sins... I also ask him to forgive me for the things I didn't do... The Missed Opportunities

 

[Swan7]

Not sure if this would count really, but it was almost missed!

I was walking home from work (I don't drive and taking a bus is redundant during warm weather and only takes me 17 minutes by foot) and listening to music when I heard a light jingling sound. My immediate thought was a rabid dog! During my childhood there was a dog that would attack anyone it laid eyes on and its owners just didn't care and let it roam.
However, coming back to the present I saw a very friendly medium sized dog that insisted sitting like a puppy. Yeah. Very threatening indeed...

This dog trotted over to me like she recognized me, but I had never seen this dog before. She kissed and leaned on me while she sat and even let me give her belly rubs. I thought this dog lived close by and decided to wait and see if the owner was outside, but no one claimed her as she trotted beside me. I began feeling the pressure of time since I retire to bed at 9pm to get a good night's sleep and 6pm was closing in fast - and I hadn't even eaten supper yet! In my mind I thought, well, someone must be outside waiting for her to go home. She must live nearby... but there was a familiar tug in my heart I couldn't ignore. I knelt on the sidewalk to see if I can read the tag in her collar, I could only decipher her name which was Russian, so I can't remember for the life of me! Thankfully there was a number I could make out and called it.

I gave the description of the dog without saying her name as I wanted the operator to tell me her name and see if we both had the right match. Voila! We had a match! So I gave the operator my number to give to the owner to call me.
I was close to home and had the surprisingly obedient dog follow me home and waited with her on the front lawn for the owner after speaking with him.

She was very happy to see her master pull up and get out of the car, but she stayed put beside me wondering if it was ok to go see him. "Who's that?" She looked at me with hopeful eyes. "Go see him!" She leapt from the grass and ran over to him, jumping on him and the car and back on him, whining and that sad/happy tone dogs give when they haven't seen their master/guardian for a long time.

 

[David Hunter]

Thanks for sharing! Glad it wasn't a "missed" opportunity. I'm sure, not just the owner, but the puppy was thankful for you bringing the two back together.

 

[look4hope]

Oh jeez....well I think I've had many which I am not proud of.
The moments that I could have given money offer a scarf, a jacket or pair of gloves to someone who I've seen out In the streets.

It eats me inside more often than thought.

 

[David Hunter]

Oh jeez....well I think I've had many which I am not proud of.
The moments that I could have given money offer a scarf, a jacket or pair of gloves to someone who I've seen out In the streets.

It eats me inside more often than thought.

Thanks for sharing!!

We just need to remember these missed opportunities the next time we see someone in need.