Serendipity Highway

I wish I could be a person who conjures up fables in their head.  I am not.  This story I am about to detail is true and just happened.

I went to watch the UFC fight tonight with a couple of friends.  The fights were boring and truly a waste of my time.  Yet still, we stayed to the end.  As my friends departed, I took a quick relief in the men’s restroom and was on my journey back to Arbor Lakes.  On the 417, I was looking at the exits and the time it took me to get from Oviedo to the Lake Mary.  In looking at the time, I accidentally missed the 46A exit and was forced onward to the Rhinehart exit instead.   Before the exit, I found a car in the left lane with the hazard lights blinking.  As I sped by, I saw a young man in a hat waving for help.  My first instinct was to brush it off as a crazy person on the side of the road.  A voice inside, which I now know more than ever, told me to stop and help.

I jammed on my brakes and started to reverse on a major freeway.(Not the brightest of plans)  Fortunately there were no cars behind me as it was 1:15 AM.  I rolled down my window and asked if everything was okay? The man explained that he was on his way back from the airport and ran out of gas.  He asked if I was able to help him in any way.  Against my better judgment, I obliged and offered to escort him the Wal-Mart the next exit down.  He was thrilled and hopped in the car after locking up his Accord.  My nerves were racing.  I have never done this before and felt very vulnerable being alone on a highway with a random stranger.  This is not something I make a practice of, nor do I recommend it to any person of a sane mind.  Every now and then, something supernatural happens that you can neither cause nor prevent.

As we made small talk, the man explained that he had just gotten back from a missionary trip from El Salvador.  His friend, who had picked him up from the airport, was now walking back to the car.  We pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot, but the gas station was closed.   With my nerves beginning to settle, I offered to take him to the Race Trac a little further down the road and a little farther out of my way. 

We pulled into the Race Trac and the father of three exited  my car to grab a gas tank and some gas.  I looked at myself in the mirror questioning what it was I had gotten myself into.  “Playing Taxi, to some stranger on the side of the road???”  Cleary this is not a Standard Operation Procedure that I practice on a daily basis, but there is nothing standard about God’s work either.  Once he purchased the gas and filled his tank, he got back in the car.  I chuckled as I offered to take him back to his car (going out of my desired path home).  It was just a funny story to me at this point on how life works out.

 As we began our journey back to his car, we began talking about his trip and its purpose.  He explained that it had been a missionary trip to help those less fortunate.  How ironic. I let him know that I was a believer of the faith and we shared a chuckle on how God work in “mysterious ways”.  Unknown to me, he had prayed right before he saw my headlights that God would help him out of this situation.  Unknown to him, I was able to facilitate someone’s prayer without any reason.  Yes when God steps in, things happen.

Epiphany:

 It wasn’t the young father, Jonathon, on the side of the road who was out of gas.  It was me.  Little to his knowledge, it was I who has been was out on the side of the road watching cars go by as I sat and waited for God to fill up my tank so I could get going again.  There was a time in my life where my tank “ranneth over” in sharing blessings to others.  That tank had run dry and I have been increasingly discouraged in my faith.  To a point, I was very cautious in proclaiming my belief in fear of association with those who falsely proclaim the name so proudly.  Here was a father who has been away from his family for two weeks so he could spread the gospel to one of the poorest countries in this hemisphere, runs out of gas, and still has the mind to pray to God for help.  At a time when he has sacrificed so much for the faith, watching each care drive by must have been a sledge hammer to the heart of his faith.  Yet, he held true to his belief that God is always there.

Where is my faith?  What does that say about me as I am pulling farther and farther away from the God who loves me so much?   My reality is that I have been waiting for God to give me a sign that he is there, funny though…. He has been waiting for me to do the same thing.  Tonight, I was on the side of the road out of gas and waiting for someone to pick me up… Fortunately, God sent someone.