Stories

A friend and I were talking the other day about some things that had happened to the both of us. We both had heard and then we responded to what we all call "that little voice inside our heads". I told him my story. He told me his story. Then my friend said "you need to write these stories down". So what better place than here under "An Elder Moment"!

First his story:

Recently a homeless person came up to him when he was helping out at a place that feeds the homeless on Sundays and asked him for a dollar to take the bus back to where his camp was. My friend didn't have any money on him so he went back to his car to get his cash. He felt God tell him to give the homeless person the dollar but also give him more. So he handed him a dollar and the guy wanted his name so he could pay him back. He told him this was no loan but a gift. He gave him more money because he felt God told him to give more than the dollar to help this man out. The homeless guy immediately took the dollar he had asked for, put it away, and then he took the rest of the extra money to the pastor that is in charge of the program that does the feeding. This guy gets generosity.

Now my story. About a year ago I was traveling up near Sacramento on business. I stopped off at a gas station on the way and as I pulled into the station I noticed a guy with a sign that said "Need Gas". As I was filling up my truck with gas I heard that voice inside my head saying go give him some gas. So after I filled up my truck I went over and asked him where his vehicle was. (Of course I was thinking he was just wanting money because he probably didn't even have a vehicle there). He pointed to a car and I said pull it up to the pumps and I will fill his tank. (All along I was thinking he was just scamming me). As I was filling his tank I asked what was his story. He told me that he was in San Diego and things kind of turned bad there and he needed to get away. A friend said he could come up to Seattle and he would give a place to stay. So he took off and stopped here at this area when he ran out of money. (Of course in my head I guessed he was a local that came out here to the freeway for free gas). But I plowed ahead and said that this gas was a gift from God to help him on his way. I asked him for his name and said I will pray for his journey.

As I left on my journey I kept saying "Lord, I was obedient to you but I sure feel like I was taken". That voice kept saying "Your 1 of 20." I felt very sure that I was one of twenty people that God was going to bring into this guys life to help out like I did in some form. I will probably never see this guy again, but I was obedient to help. Some day that 20th person will step in and that guy will realize that God is speaking to him. I was obedient to be one of the 20.

I got another story I need to share. I just heard this one today on a podcast. The speaker was stopping at a gas station (must be a special place for God to work!) in the middle of the night. (I don't remember why he was there in the middle of the night.) But he noticed an older guy filling his car up at the same time. He heard that voice in his head say to go over to him and tell him that tomorrow everything will be OK. Of course he thought this was crazy but he eventually went over to the guy and said to the guy "I know this is going to sound weird and I normally don't do this, but I follow the ways of Jesus and he told me to come over to you and tell you that tomorrow everything will be OK." The guy just stood there. The speaker thought the guy didn't hear him so he repeated the same line. The guy started tearing up in his eyes, he reached over and tapped on the window and asked his wife to come over to them. She did and he asked the speaker to repeat to her what he told him. So he repeated everything again. The lady broke down in tears. The man said that he was going to have surgery tomorrow on both his knees to remove blood clots. If they don't remove them properly he doesn't have very long to live. They couldn't sleep and since surgery was only 6 hours away, they decided to stay up all night driving around possibly spending their last night together. The wife went back into the car and the man said I don't know who you are and this is pretty crazy but I know you have given me and my wife an unbelievable amount of peace right now. Through tears he said thank you. The speaker left never knowing what happened after that.

I do know that God passionately loves us and uses us to share that with others. We need to be ready to hear that voice and respond obediently.

I hope these stories encourage you as they encourage me. God is alive and working through His people to reach others.