Gary and I had a “you can’t get there from here” experience while attending the Fringe Festival this weekend. We were headed for the Xerox auditorium and had parked in the garage across from Geva. Given that there was a huge black cloud overhead and given that we parked on the third floor of the garage, we decided to take the enclosed Skyway, which was directly in front of us, to walk to the  Xerox tower. We thought we’d just take some stairs down to the auditorium when we got there. No such luck. When we got to the tower, we were met by a guard who pointed to the auditorium out the window, but said, “You can’t get there from here.” The problem was that we were not Xerox employees and did not have an employee pass card. Who knew you needed one? He advised us to go all the way back to the garage, go down to the street level there and then walk back to the auditorium.

We were grumbling, but we turned around and were headed back the way we came when a Good Samaritan happened by. She’d overheard our conversation and took us back to the guard, asking him if we could be her guests and use her pass on the elevator. After some hemming and hawing, the guard called a boss for approval, and our new friend escorted us all the way to the theatre. It was 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, and I’m sure she was anxious to get home, but she took the time and went out of her way to help us. We thanked her profusely and went in.

Sometimes help comes from an unexpected source just when you need it. God does work in mysterious ways – often through ordinary people. How does He want to use you today?