Typically when I am traveling back and forth I have several activities that occupy my time: talking on the phone (via Bluetooth for safety reasons), listening to Car Talk, a book on CD, a missed sermon from church, or solving the world’s problems. The later, is like yard work, when the motor stops your solution disappears. In addition to two episodes of Car Talk, I listened to two sermons left over from December that I had missed. These two were the grand finale to the expository series we had about Jude. When I tried to listen to them the first time I was unable to concentrate on them because of the recent business meeting. In particular I was a little angry about my motion being tabled. Partly because the motion to table was used incorrectly (Roberts was a Civil Engineer as am I, so I’m more aware of some of the nuances of Roberts’ Rules), but also partly because despite the fact I made a very specific motion it was dismissed as a carte blanche motion and re-referred to the committee that hadn’t been able to take action on the matter (even though I serve on the committee and was tasked by the committee to do something). So my anger in not being able to do what I wanted to do kept me from listening to what I wanted to listen to when I wanted to as well as made me listen to it when I needed to listen to it.
One statement made in the first sermon is so powerful I can see a whole post just on it. That statement was: I have no more right to, or am no more deserving of Grace then Jesus was deserving of becoming sin. Dr. Thweatt said it better, but my paraphrase hits the high points and swings the hammer hard. The first sermon reminded me yet again of Providence and the touch that was leading me home right when I needed to be there. But another affect of them was a desire to call my preacher. I don’t like to call people after nine at night. Even though they tell me it’s okay, even though I’ll gladly answer the phone at all hours of the night, I just don’t like calling people after nine. It was five minutes until nine.
As I pulled up his number I noticed that I was driving near the area where my cell phone signal gets flighty. Cell phones are great when they work, but I dialed anyway. After an unsuccessful attempt, I retried and got the message that I had no cell signal. I prayed. There had to be a reason I felt the urge to call him. I simply gave it to God and said that if He wanted me to call, I’d get through. I retried with the same effect. At which point I began to think, “Maybe I’m calling the wrong number.” So I hit his cell number instead of his home number and a split second before my finger hit the button to dial my antenna went from “Searching” to a single bar.
He was on the road, so he wasn’t at home if I had called, and needed to hear the joy I had for his message. From time to time I have heard him preach and afterwards told him that he had not preached at all that day, as it was this time; he was a conduit for God sharing exactly what I needed exactly when I needed it even though it was a month and a half later when I heard it.
The rain I was driving through at times was heavy, but it again became symbolic to me. He knows where every drop will land today. And He put me on a path where my vehicle intercepted those drops that I needed to intercept. Some of the boulders were large, some small, some I carried around, some I threw up into the air and was surprised when they landed, and some hit me out of the blue. Yet all of them put me where I needed to be.
The Rest of the Story Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
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