In God's Good Time
by: Jon Crane

Saturday Ramblins, Vol. 1, No. 12 (August 1, 1998)

It's been a week of little miracles. It never ceases to amaze me how God knows what's in our hearts, what we want or need. It is His wisdom that knows when to give such gifts to us, despite what we believe is necessary in our lives.

In the late winter of 1997, I visited a friend in Boston. For most of two weeks, we drove over half of New England in her car, a 1988 Dodge Raider. For those of you who don't know, Mitsubishi built it for Dodge for several years. It is essentially the Montero of that era, with the Dodge name and logo on it.

I loved driving that car — the first vehicle in years that I actually had fun driving, both in the traffic of Boston and in the countryside. I thought, at the time, wouldn't it be fun to own one someday.

Recently, my old Plymouth Sundance gave up the ghost. I knew it was time for a new-to-me car. You can guess what I began to look for. Well, let me tell other Raider "wannahaves" — they are virtually impossible to find, as are the Monteros of those years, my second choice.

I called car lot after car lot in southern Louisiana and Mississippi. Younger salespeople hadn't even heard of a Raider. My frustration grew as I visited different lots in search of anything suitable, in my price range, night after night after working all day.

It was last Tuesday evening. I had come home tired and just couldn't face another night out car hunting. I started to change clothes and something in me said, go back and look at that Ford Explorer; the one I'd seen the day before. The "something" said, You can afford it and it's in good shape. So, with a sigh, I left the house.

On the way to the dealership I offered up a prayer — not asking for anything specific, because I don't believe in praying for "things". But I asked God to please lead me to the car He wanted me to have and I would accept it.

When I arrived at the dealer's used car lot I had to wait because my salesperson had gone for a demo ride with another customer. A second salesman said he'd get the key to the Explorer and I could sit in it and see how I liked it.

As we were walking across the lot, I stopped him and told him my Dodge Raider story; how I'd looked high and low for one for most of a year, and most intensely in the last few weeks. I said, "There is not a Raider to be had in the South."

The salesman said, "A Dodge Raider, huh?" I nodded. He pointed to the car I was standing by and said, "You mean like that one?" I turned and there was a 1989 Dodge Raider in fine condition. They had just brought it on the lot and I had walked by it, twice.

Coincidence? Maybe, but I don't think so. I had made my mind up not to go out that night but something in me said "Go." I went because God knew that car would be there. Besides, coincidence is God's way of maintaining His anonymity.

It never ceases to amaze me how when we give up, God never does. All we have to do is listen and be prepared to go when He nudges us. If we think there is a single thing in our lives — from that car we love to the love we have from those special to us — that doesn't come from Him, then we are sadly mistaken. Everything we have or ever will have is His gift to us, even the pain and hard times. Those things remind us, in case we forget, how much we need Him.

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