Just the other day, Jerry’s dear friend, Timmy, stopped by to pick up scaffolding. Knowing Timmy now for at least twenty five years, Jerry has prayed for him through the good and bad. For a long time, it has been mostly the latter, so much so, that Timmy’s mantra—almost as if he thought it was his lot in life to make wrong choices—was, “If you keep making the same mistakes, you’ll keep getting the same results.”
Even so, that has made no difference to Jerry who has continued to love Timmy as if he were one of his sons. Marveling that Timmy is one of the most honest men he has ever known, Jerry has witnessed in the recent past, a wondrous transformation that has been unfolding in Timmy’s life. One that needs to be told.
No one but God knows when and where it began, but I’ll pick up the thread of Timmy’s story from several years back.
Timmy, being the good-hearted soul that he is, was traveling with his buddy, Chuy, to Mexico to take a tremendous amount of cash—let your imaginations run wild with this one—that Chuy had earned, to help Chuy’s family still living there. Stopped at the border in a routine search, the cash was found and confiscated. Assuming Chuy was laundering money, both men were thrown in a Texas prison with a $200,000 get-out-of-jail bond.
Looking around the cell, Timmy saw he was surrounded by huge, burly men that he assumed, unlike he, probably deserved to be there. Seeking God, but not yet a Christ follower and not knowing what else to do, Timmy began to pray.
Within a few minutes, one of the men walked over to him. Putting his arm around Timmy, he asked, “Do you think you’ll still be here around midnight?” Timmy responded, “I don’t know where else I’ll be.”
Midnight rolled around. To Timmy’s surprise, the group of ten to twelve men gathered in a circle and began to pray. Timmy joined with them. Having read in the Bible in the book of Acts about Paul and Silas who in fetters and chains in the Roman jail, were filled with joy, Timmy was suddenly happy to be there.
“I’m experiencing what Paul and Silas experienced. I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
Three days later, the charges were dropped with no explanation. Timmy and Chuy walked out. Penniless, but scot-free.
Continuing to read the Bible, over time, Timmy became a believer in Jesus.
Fast forward to another trip he took.
Working in theater, many times as stage manager, Timmy has to do odd and unexpected jobs. This time it involved delivering props and equipment to Miami, Florida. For some reason he didn’t understand, he felt he needed to go. Maybe to get away for awhile or to even to just walk barefoot in the Atlantic, he had an urgent desire to be there.
Setting off in a twenty-six foot truck, he wasn’t long down the road when he was met with problem after problem. First, the truck broke down. Having to wait for towing, it didn’t get pulled into the repair shop until almost closing time.
Needing to make his delivery, he rented another vehicle, the only one available, a sixteen footer. Unloading the larger truck by himself and packing it into the smaller one, hours later, he was finally able to try to get underway, only to find the new rental had problems also.
More and more went wrong. Ridiculousness that caused Timmy to think perhaps Satan was trying to hinder him from getting to where he was supposed to be.
Nevertheless, Timmy arrived and while waiting to be met to unload what he delivered, on the beach that was beside the parking lot, he saw, heard, and knew why he was the one to make that trip. A group of black men and women were being baptized.
He had wanted to be baptized for quite some time. Walking toward them and to allay their suspicions of why a funny-looking, worn-out, white man was coming their way, Timmy shouted, “I want to be baptized!”
Welcoming him into their midst, he was immersed, only to come out of the water joyful as he celebrated with strangers that hugged him as if they had known him as a long-lost friend.
I guess in some ways he was. As we all are until we come to the Lord. But what really struck me in both these tales is the Scripture, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good….” (See Genesis 50:20 ESV.)
What looked like a really bad situation when Timmy was thrown into the Texas jail, turned out to be a blessing. Not only was he freed and his record exonerated, he was filled with joy when he knew he was supposed to be there. And when arriving in Miami after being delayed by trial after trial, if he had been at that beach any earlier or any later, he might have missed being baptized.
Before Job went through his heart-wrenching tribulations, Satan had to first get God’s permission to put Job through what he went through. (See Job 1:6-12.) But also, look at the blessings God bestowed on Job when the testing was over. (See Job 42:10-17.) Knowing that, when it feels as if we are being attacked by Satan and life is out-of-control, we can take heart, because God allowed/allows it for our good.
Hard words to swallow, but true, because no matter what is ahead, we can know or come to know that in God’s hard mercy, through these things, He is loving us and drawing us ever closer to Him.
“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” -1 Peter 5:10 (ESV)
Take Heart,
Kimberly
