A few years ago, my husband, daughter and I went grocery shopping only to discover upon coming out of the store that our car was dead. Immediately, our thoughts went to “Who can we call to help us?” It was a low moment when the only friends we could think of who would gladly leave whatever Labor Day plans they had to rescue us was an hour away. This couple would have not only left the event they were hosting but would probably pack up some food and bring it with them, but we didn’t want to inconvenience anybody.

So my husband and I sat in the parking lot discussing how we had allowed ourselves to get to a point in life where we hadn’t allowed anyone to get close enough to us that we would be willing to inconvenience. Oh, we had our fair share of acquaintances-individuals we worked with, attended church with, even hung out with on weekends, but this situation with a dead battery fully revealed the levels to which we had isolated ourselves from others.

I can pinpoint that as the moment I committed to actively trying to maintain friendships. And I told myself that the mark of a true friend would be the individual I had no qualms about calling up and asking her to jumpstart a dead battery, or drive me to the airport at 4am in the morning, etc...

Yesterday, I added another qualifier for friendship. A friend is the one you would bail of jail. This arose out of a discussion with a friend who vocalized wanting to beat up an elementary kid for picking on her children. As a mother, I often feel that sentiment towards those who would harm Lexi in any way, but I applauded her for her self-control in not slapping the kid. But I told her if she had landed in jail, I would have bailed her out. And while we were joking about it, I knew it to be true. The fact that we no longer live in the same time zone mattered very little. Had her family and friends there not bailed her out, I would have flown there myself and bailed her out.

I posed the question last night to my husband about who he would count as a close enough friend to bail out of jail. His response?

“I can’t think of anyone I wouldn’t be willing to bail out of jail.”

You see, my husband didn’t stop to consider the level of relationship. His response came from the heart of an individual who would help because someone needed it. He really does embody what it means to be a good Samaritan.

I was really humbled by that.

(Oh, and he wants you to know that the crime does matter, and he would take that into consideration before bailing someone out of jail.)

Who would you bail out of jail?