God's Plan... We Can Choose to Participate

God’s Plan… We Can Choose to Participate

September 16, 2013

God uses ordinary people to carry out His extraordinary plan

I feel the most centered and stabilizing factor in my life has been my faith in God. I’m sure my faith was born from my parents. I’ve always felt that God is aware of me. I know that many times he has placed good people in my path to encourage me and to help me through life’s tests. I feel that sometimes we get the opportunity to be God’s helper in the lives of someone else.

One such experience that has impressed me and strengthened my faith is that God knows all of us and is aware of all of our needs. This event happened as I was nearing the completion of one of our fiber optic jobs. An employee and I were busy putting the final cleanup touches on a 400 mile cable job.

About 11:00 a.m. a huge rainstorm came upon us. We jumped into our truck to keep from getting wet. As we sat there watching the rain pour down, I noticed that it was getting close to lunch time. I asked my partner if he would like to accompany me into town for lunch. He thought that would be a great idea. We hadn’t had a prepared lunch for quite some time, so we drove about 10 miles into town and stopped at a Denny’s restaurant. They were very busy and the place was filled with happy, laughing, and talking people.

The only place left to be seated was at a table next to a window. As we waited for our food to be served, my eyes were drawn to a car parked outside the window. As I lazily stared at the car, I noticed a slight puff of smoke came out from under the hood. I wasn’t quite sure that I saw what I saw, so I called my partner’s attention to it. He watched with me and concluded that I had seen only steam from the rain, and then went back to his own thoughts.

I couldn’t comfort my feelings that I had seen smoke and sure enough, a large puff of smoke came out from under the hood. I jumped to my feet and hurried to the nearest waitress. I asked her to let the customers know that there was a car on fire. She tried to get their attention, but no one would listen. I caught myself shouting above the noise of the crowd. “Could I have your attention please? There is a car on fire in the parking lot!”

Immediately the noise ceased and I explained that a dark blue car outside of the window was on fire. All was silent and then a small voice spoke up, “It’s my car.” I looked toward the voice and saw an aged, frail, little lady sitting next to a middle age man. I said, “Will you come with me? We’ll have to unlock your car hood.”

I grabbed a fire extinguisher from my truck and she unlocked her car. As I lifted the hood of her car, flames exploded into the air. I quickly put the fire out with the fire extinguisher.

We stood there looking at the damage that was done to her car. The wiring was completely destroyed. The sweet lady began to cry and her son tried to comfort her with the words, “Don’t cry Mommy, it will be alright. Don’t cry Mommy, it will be alright.”

The only ones who came to help were two of the waitresses who came with their fire extinguishers. No one else seemed to care. I told the lady that I would take care of everything after we had finished eating, and she was okay with that.

When I arrived back to my table, my lunch wasn’t there. My partner told me that the waitress had picked it up to exchange it for a hot one. As I waited for my lunch, the lady had been trying to make a phone call from the phone booth. Just as my hot lunch arrived, she came to my table crying. She couldn’t get the phone to work. I went with her and we tried to call several of her relatives and everyone she could think of…but there was no answer.

I assured her that I would see to it that she got home and asked her to wait until I had finished my lunch. She agreed and we went back into the dining area. I returned to my table to find I had no food again. My partner informed me again that the waitress had taken it. The waitress soon returned with a new, hot meal. I proceeded again to eat.

Then an elderly gentleman came to my table and said, “I’ve been observing what’s been going on here today and I’m sure you need to get back to your work. My wife and I would like to offer to drive this lady safely home.” She lived about 60 miles away. We loaded her groceries into his car and I thanked him for his kind service.

When I returned to pay for my meal, the attendant informed me that my meal was on the house. She shared her appreciation for the effort that I had made and said, “If my mother should ever be caught in a similar situation, I hope you would be the one there to help her.”

As my partner and I drove back to our job, I was overwhelmed with the thoughts of God’s love for all of his children. I felt that my circumstances had been altered to meet the needs of that sweet lady and her challenged son. My heart and my soul was happy that I had had the opportunity to help in God’s plan.

Sensing that my partner hadn’t experienced the significance of it all as I had, I asked him, “What are the chances that we would be forced from our work by the rain? What would cause us to drive to town for lunch?” We hadn’t gone to town to eat lunch for over a year.

“Why did we stop at that busy restaurant? Why was there only one table available by a window, next to a car that was simmering and getting ready to burst into flames? Can you imagine what would have happened if we had not decided to go to lunch?” He replied, “Her car would have burned up and her insurance company would have purchased her a new one.”  Nevertheless, all turned out well and the privilege of helping someone in need brought me much joy.

I hope that you will take time to recognize how you may be a part of blessing the lives of others along your way. Everything happens for a reason, there are no coincidences.

In fact, it is no coincidence you read my story. Think about it.