This is an email I received from a friend in Canada.


One day a man saw a old lady, stranded on the side of the
road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed
help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His
Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her.

Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had
stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt
her? He didn't look safe; he looked poor and hungry.

He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in
the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that chill which only
fear can put in you.

He said, "I'm here to help you, ma'am. Why don't you wait in
the car where it's warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson."

Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that
was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place
to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he
was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his
hands hurt.

As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the
window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from
St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn't thank
him enough for coming to her aid.

Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how
much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with
her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have
happened had he not stopped. Bryan never thought twice about
being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone
in need, and God knows there were plenty, who had given him a
hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it
never occurred to him to act any other way.

He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the
next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that
person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, "And think
of me."

He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been
a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for
home, disappearing into the twilight.

A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went
in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made
the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking
restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was
unfamiliar to her. The waitress came over and brought a clean
towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even
being on her feet for the whole day couldn't erase.
The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months
pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her
attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little
could be so giving to a stranger.

Then she remembered Bryan.

After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred
dollar bill.

The waitress quickly went to get change for her hundred dollar
bill but the old lady had slipped right out the door. She was
gone by the time the waitress came back. The waitress wondered
where the lady could be.

Then she noticed something written on the napkin.

There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady
wrote:

"You don't owe me anything. I have been there too.
Somebody once helped me out, the way I'm helping you. If you
really want to pay me back, here is what you do: Do not let
this chain of love end with you."

Under the napkin were four more $100 bills.

Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and
people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day.
That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she
was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How
could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed
it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard....

She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping
next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low,
"Everything's going to be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson."

There is an old saying "What goes around comes around." Today,
I sent you this story, and I'm asking you to pass it on .. Let
this light shine.

Don't delete it, don't return it. Simply, pass this on to a
friend.

Good friends are like stars....You don't always see them, but
you know they are always there.