I drive a new Toyota, and it’s extremely reliable; but the indicator light for a low-inflated tire kept coming on, even though they all looked good to the naked eye. So, each time the light came on, I took it to the dealership. (This has happened twice before in the past year.) Yesterday I took it into the dealership once again, this time demanding that something be done to correct the situation. The people there already recognized me, and a couple even know my name. Although we were always cordial toward each other, I was beginning to feel they were giving me the runaround. I thought maybe they just inflated the low tire and sent me on my way with a slow leak rather than fix it once and for all.
In any case, I sat around watching television with a good number of other individuals, waiting for the repair to be made. I waited and waited and waited some more. By now I was getting antsy and had to remind myself that everything has a reason for those in the family of God. “All things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose.” Finally, after two and a half hours, my name was called, and the young man led me to a cubicle as if to tell me something in secret.
We sat and he didn’t seem to know where to begin; but after a moment, he said “Jim,… we took off the wheels and put each of them in a tank of water – individually. None of them needed air and none of them were faulty in the least. We don’t know what to make of it.” Just then it hit me like a ton of bricks; It was a God thing!…. I should have known.
So when I went outside to pick up my car, I reached into the glove box and took out two little red Bibles and gave one to the young escort while saying, “Here kid, with the way things are going, you’re gonna need this; Jesus is coming back soon.” He exclaimed “Thank you sir; thank you.” Then, I remembered the young lady who had been trying to help me move things along, and I turned back to see her in her cubicle. I thanked her for all her help and handed the little red book to her saying, “Jesus is coming back soon; you’re going to need this.” She thanked me as if she had been thinking along these lines but didn’t know where to look to find out why things have been so abruptly changed in our lives. She thanked me so profusely, you’d think I had given her a winning lottery ticket!
While driving home I couldn’t help but think that God had sent me there for the very purpose of delivering His Word to both of them. So, I thanked Him for the privilege of doing so.
The next day was a beautiful Saturday, so I headed to the fishing pier (my mission station) to see if they were opened yet. (We had been on lockdown for a month) And sure enough it was, but there were very few people fishing and it was 100 degrees out there; so I decided to get lunch at McDonald’s rather than stand around and bake in the sun.
An older homeless man was sitting on a wooden planter just outside the store. His bicycle was leaning against a sign nearby. Two raggedy backpacks were lying at the man’s feet; they held all his worldly possessions in them. As I passed nearby, he shouted out, “Hey man, how are you doing?” I felt the need to acknowledge him face to face. “I’m doing fine; how about you?” I asked as I looked at the sunburned, white-haired man whose arms were crisscrossed with deep wrinkles throughout them. “My name’s Fletcher; what’s yours?” as he reached out to shake hands.
“Jim, …. glad to know you, Fletcher.” His big hands were calloused and rough, and he still had a good manly grip.
“Things could be better.”
“How so?” I asked as I sat next to him. “Tell me about it.”
After a moment to think about it, he replied, “Well, I don’t know why the good Lord above has me alive.” The man’s eyes were beginning to water. Apparently, he doesn’t get this kind of attention too often.
“I jest got out of the hospital…. I was dead for three minutes. Doctor said I was dead. I heard him say it while lying there dead. I decided to open my eyes and tell him I was alive, and I did.… I said, “Not so, doc; I’m alive!…. The doctor’s jaw fell to the floor, and they kept me for a couple of days and released me.”
I began witnessing to the man tenderly, but with conviction. “Maybe the Lord wants to save you.”
“I know it, …. I jest know it!” the man replied.
Before long he was weeping openly, and he squeezed my hand harder and harder. “I try and try to be what God wants me to be, but it just doesn’t take.”
I told him that sometimes we just have to pray with our faces to the floor, confessing our sins and calling out to God in the name of Jesus Christ until we get a breakthrough.”
It must have been a revelation to the man – having heard that. His eyes popped open and he replied, “That’s just what I needed to hear. Maybe I should do that! Thank you, Jim.”
I prayed with him still holding my hand as if I were a lifeline directly to God. “God sent you to me…. God sent you too me…. I just know he did. I was calling out to Him when you arrived out of nowhere…. Thanks Jim, thanks.”
In these turbulent times, everybody who isn’t a Christian is hurting out there. They are searching for answers that only you and I possess.
I went in to get a small order of chicken nuggets, and the woman at the counter inexplicably said while handing me my order – “God loves you,” although I had never seen her before.
BOOK
If you have the time for a good read, try this page-turner by Michael Medved: God’s Hand on America: Divine providence in the modern era. All true and documented stories about how God intervened in the history of our great nation.
YBIC
Jim Towers
Write me at jt.filmmaker@yahoo.com and check out my website www.propheticsignsandwonders.com. also www.dropzonedelta.com warriors following Christ.