10.20.06

A God Sighting

Posted in Uncategorized on October 20th, 2006 at 2:13 pm by Bill Williams

by Bill Williams

 We were saddened to see the moving van in our backyard neighbor’s driveway. We had never been close to her, but, since she had been widowed shortly after we moved into her neighborhood, we’ve tried to keep an eye on her. She was very independent and really never needed anything. Now she’s off to North Carolina to be closer to her children.

There was one occasion in which she was glad we lived in her neighborhood. It was the Saturday before Easter a few years ago. We had been receiving soaking rains for a couple of weeks. The ground was completely saturated, but heavy rains continued to fall. As I stood drinking my morning coffee and looking across our neighbor’s backyard meadow, I noticed that one of her towering pine trees was leaning against the side of one of her storage sheds. If there was any more loosening of its root system, it would come crashing down on her sheds and likely damage most of the expensive equipment they housed. At the least, it would be a big mess to clean up.

My wife called her and let her know what we had noticed. We didn’t learn until later on, that she had already noticed the potential disaster. More about that in a moment. Upon receiving my wife’s call our neighbor started asking what we thought she should do. We both told her that since this was such a potentially dangerous job (the trees are really tall in Delaware), she needed the service of professionals. While I made a call to a Christian man who owns a tree service business, my wife met our neighbor in the backyard to survey the damage.

The tree man was just getting ready to leave town for a family vacation over the Easter break (our children attend the same Christian school). After I explained the circumstances, he said he would come right away and take a look at the situation. He said that he would make some calls en route to see if he could get some of his workers to come in that afternoon (on their day off) and get this lady back in business (or something like that).

Well, he was there in the backyard within thirty minutes. He and our neighbor pointed and gestured for a few minutes and then he was gone. Within a couple of hours he and his crew showed up with their massive boom truck. Birds took to flight and saws started buzzing, within a few short hours they were done.

After we noticed that they were gone my wife called our neighbor just to make sure that all was well with her. She was so grateful for the tree-man that showed up to help her. She said that he hardly charged her anything. The amount that she reported sounded to me like he had charged her just enough to cover his labor expenses.

Then she shared with my wife that she had noticed the leaning tree before she had called earlier. In fact, she said that at the very moment that my wife called she was walking up the stairs from her basement crying out to God for help. She said that she was literally asking out loud to God, “How can I possibly find someone to come remove this tree on Easter weekend?” Then the phone rang. By my way of thinking, that’s a God sighting.

Does anyone else have a similar story to share?

© Bill Williams, October 18, 2006

(Originally posted at the Spiritual Oasis) 

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Listen For The Bell

Posted in Uncategorized on October 20th, 2006 at 11:46 am by Dee O'Neil Andrews

 Just up the road from my home is a field, with two horses in it. From a distance, each looks like every other horse. But if you stop your car, or are walking by, you will notice something quite different.

Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he is blind. His owner has chosen not to have him put down, but has made a good home for him. This alone is very unusual.

If nearby and listening, you will hear the sound of a bell. Looking around for the source of the sound, you will see that it comes from the smaller horse in the field. Attached to her halter is a small bell. It lets her blind friend know where she is, so he can follow her.

As you stand and watch these two friends, you’ll see how she is always checking on him, and that he will listen for her bell and then slowly walk to where she is, trusting that she will not lead him astray. When she returns to the shelter of the barn each evening, she stops occasionally and looks back, making sure her friend isn’t too far behind to hear the bell.

Like the owners of these two horses, God does not just throw us away just because we are not perfect or because we have problems or challenges. He watches over us and even brings others into our lives to help us when we are in need.

Sometimes we are the blind horse being guided by the little ringing bell of those who God places in our lives. Other times we are the guide horse, helping others find the way.

Good friends are like this. You don’t always see them, but you know they are always there.

Listen for the bell, someone is always listening for yours. You could make a difference in someone’s life and yet maybe not even realize what you’ve done. Don’t pass the opportunity.

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