Dear friends:

Little is more thrilling and faith-building than seeing the hand of God in day-to-day encounters. It demonstrates that He can work good in the midst of adversity. 

My wife and I experienced that this past Sunday and Monday.

The heat was scorching.  We got out of church and walked through a furnace of hot air until we got to our car in middle of the parking lot.  We looked forward to the coolness and refreshing of the car's air conditioning.

I inserted the key, turned it, and the car was dead.  I mean dead-dead.  Even the horn didn't work.  This is bad, right?  WRONG!   God had a plan.

I messed with it a little bit but nothing worked.  Then I got on the cell phone, called my insurance company, and they said they would dispatch road service, which would arrive within the hour.  Due to the heat, we went back in the cool church building to wait.

The road service finally arrived, he gave it a voltage jolt, and the car started.  Oh, what joy!  But the joy lasted only 60 seconds and it died again.  The road service guy said he would jolt do it again.  In the process, I noticed a necklace around his neck and it had a little fish symbol on it.  I said, "I like your fish.  Are you a Jesus man?"

He replied, "Yes, I am a Christian.  I have visited this church."  We chatted briefly and I believe our conversation was a blessing to him.  Another church member stranger had arrived and offered to help and I believe the encounter was a good witness to him.

Well, he jolted it again and it started again.  We left, and got about a mile down the road and it conked out again, in traffic, at a traffic light.  Dead-dead.  This is bad, right?  WRONG!  God had a plan.

A fellow behind me helped push the car into a business parking area that "just happened" to be only a few feet away.  I got on the cell phone again and called for a tow truck.  They said it would arrive in about an hour.  (Insurance is paying for all this.)  So we sat in the scorching heat.  In the meantime, we watched God bless us several times.  Two different couples we did not know stopped and asked if they could help.  One young lady stopped and even brought us two ice-cold bottles of water.  She had seen us and went to the trouble of gong to a convenience store to get the water and bring it to us!

Most notably, a young black man, Raymond, stopped and asked if he could help.  He was no help but he sat and chatted with us.  He was from Chicago and very personable.  I inquired about his work and plans, and gave him some counsel.  Raymond was very obese and the Lord in his compassion gave me a word for him, that God wanted him to lose weight and would help him do so.  He allowed my wife and I to pray for him.  I laid my hand on his shoulder and we prayed a powerful prayer.  It was a blessed time of fellowship with this former stranger, but now eternal friend.  God visited Raymond that day, and encouraged him.

See, this whole car problem was bad, right?  WRONG!

Well, the tow truck finally came, we loaded up and headed home, as repair places were closed.  In conversation with the driver en route (I guess I am just an engaging kind of guy), we discovered that he was also a serious Christian, and we had a great time of fellowship.  It was a blessing to all three of us, including my dainty, little, dressed-up wife who had climbed to the high front seat of this big, dirty truck.  (She was amusing!)

See, this whole problem was bad, right?  WRONG!  It gets even better.

The next morning I had to call another tow truck to take the car to a repair place (the insurance company is still paying for the road service, praise the Lord).

As I sat in the waiting room waiting on my car, I noticed another customer with a name tag that said, "Moe."  I said, "Hi, Moe.  I like that name."  He asked why, and I said it is from the name Moses (always looking for a witnessing opportunity).  I said it is really  from the Hebrew Moishe.  (By the way, I also like the name Moe because of Moe Howard of the Three Stooges, but most people do not know that Moe Howard was Jewish and his real name was Moishe.)

He happily exclaimed , "That's my name, Moishe," and he was so pleased that I knew something about his name.  It turned out that he was a Jew from Israel.  That was a perfect introduction for witnessing.  Only God could have set up the circumstances.

I told him how much I loved and supported Israel and said, "I know another Hebrew name, Yeshua haMachiah.  Do you know who that is?"  He said yes, but he let me know right away that he was not "orthodox."  I asked, "Do you believe in Yeshua haMachiah?"  I could tell that he was somewhat stunned by my forthrightness, but I knew I only had a momentary window of time and had to make the most of it.  I also knew this was clearly a God encounter.

His answer was vague, but I knew I had planted a huge seed, and that later upon reflection he would realize that this was a God encounter for him personally, for obvious reasons, and he would ponder its meaning, and God would give him revelation.

His car was ready, and before he left, I asked, "Are you familiar with Isaiah?"  Naturally, he said yes.  I said, "Please read chapter 53.  You will find Yeshua there."  We wished each other a hearty and sincere shalom, a word we had discussed, and he departed.

I believe he will read it, and believe, as God opens his eyes.  A Jewish friend and I have since prayed that God will save Moishe and we will see him in the Kingdom.  Please join with us and pray for Moishe's salvation.

So, our car troubles were bad, right?  WRONG!  Obviously, God had a plan. 

By the way, all I needed was a new battery.  The whole electrical system checked out okay.  The three-year-old Wal-Mart battery had just given up the ghost and died.  Unlike humans, it could not be saved.

Shalom,

Jim