The stories that I am about to share with you happened very recently.  One was shared with me by a woman that I have known for many years while she was refueling her car at a convenience store.  I was directly involved with the second one and perhaps the main character in the unfolding drama.

The Near Fatal Accident that Helped to Save A Life
“Aren’t you Sarah Harley (not her real name)?”, I shouted to the lady at the gas tank as I prepared to enter the store.   “Yes, I am,” she responded back to me in a loud and excited tone.  “Let me share with you how good the Lord is and how he worked a miracle in my life,” she said as I waited and listened to what she was about to share.  Being one who enjoy hearing people tell of the goodness and working of the Lord, I backed away from entering the door to give ear to what Sarah had to share with me.   “I was in a car accident the other day where my car was totally lost,” she told me with a big smile on her face.  “When they rushed me to the emergency room at McLeod here in Dillon and examined me, they discovered that I had only a few scratches on my forehead.”  “However,” she said with increased excitement, “when they performed further test on me, to their amazement, they found some blood clots in my leg.”  At this point in her testimony (what we believers refer to when sharing what the Lord has done), she had a glow upon her face and a smile that gave witness to what she was about to say.  “That accident helped to save my life,” she uttered with great joy.  “The doctor said that those blood clots would have ultimately killed me when they had finally worked their way to my heart.  Isn’t the Lord God?  He used that accident to saved my life.”  In complete agreement with her I responded, “He surely did.  He’s good all the time and always works all things out together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.”

The Dead Battery that Helped to Jump Start
Life in Me
This final story features me and my intent to kill a vital source of supplementary food for many in our area who need it.  Due to the dishonesty of a few, who make their rounds to nearly every distribution site in the area to receive the free foods given by Harvest Hope Food Bank and others like them, my workers and I had become weary in seeing them do this.  Add to that, when we would ask for donations for gas and vehicle upkeep there would be hardly no response from them whatsoever.  What they and some others fail to realize is that though the food was free, there are some expenses we incur in order to be able to get the food to them.  So we decided to bail out of being one of the distributors for the food.
On this particular day, it was going to be the final day of our Food Bank Ministry.  One of the ladies in our church who helps to oversee this program was running late.  It was her job alone with a few others to open the door, let the people in, and give them their bags of food.  The reason she was late was because her truck would not start.  When she called and told me, I was on my way back home from my morning cruise with my dog, Nip.   As I turned onto Pee Dee Church Road and was passing the church, I saw a lot of cars and people who were standing in line to enter the facility.  Instead of going home, I went to where the lady was, whose truck would not start, to let her know that there was a pretty, good sized crowd of people waiting in line.  Getting out of my truck, I went straight to her truck, as she and her neighbor was attempting to get it started.  The hood of her truck was up and when she would turn the ignition key it would not start.  I asked the gentleman who was trying to help her, if he tried to boost it?  He said, “No, I do not have any jump cables.”  Hearing that I went immediately to my truck and got a pair of new heavy duty jump cables.  We connected them to her battery and his battery.  At first, it would not do anything.  However, as we allowed the cables to stay connected for a while, the car started.  “I am going to go down to the church and tell them that you are coming and will be there shortly,”  I said, as I got in my truck and headed for the church.  When I got to the church, I walked over to where the people were waiting in line.  I knew and recognized many of them, especially those who were over 60 years of age.  They were of various ethnicities waiting on the supplementary food.  There was a look of destitution on some of their faces as they greeted me.  My heart immediately broke, my eyes swelled with tears, and my conscience convicted me for what we were about to do.  Returning back to my truck, it took all I could muster up to keep from being overwhelmed with emotions and guilt.  Once I arrived to the other side of the church where our administrative offices are located, I entered the area where two other ladies were sitting and waiting on the other lady to arrive, in order to start distributing the bags of food.  After greeting them, I knew now that there was just no way we were going to discontinue the program.  Being convicted by my own conscience that our intentions were inconsiderate, uncompassionate, and downright unchristian,  I sat down and explained to them that after looking into the faces and eyes of the people, who were waiting in line to receive the bags of food, the Lord had given me a change of heart.  Allowing both of them to respond, they wholeheartedly agreed and breathed a sigh of relief that they would not have to be the bearers of bad tiding to people who were already experiencing some difficulties and hardships.  They would not have to tell these people, some of whom were perhaps already struggling to make ends meet, even to the detriment of having to choose medicine over food or vice versa.  I am so thankful that the Lord used a dead truck battery to teach me a vital lesson on life and compassion.
As I conclude, I hope that both of these somewhat melodramatic and real life stories will help you to understand that there are often occurrances or incidents in our lives that at first seem negative and bad.  Nevertheless, they will ultimately prove to be beneficial and good.  Since we can never know the outcome of a tiresome and difficult journey, it is always to our advantage to stay on the way that yields rewards at the end.