Standing on my Soap Box

I’ve been thinking lately about the things that happen where there is no explanation for. I call these God breathes. With that in mind I thought I’d share a few things…

With today being Remembrance Day, I thought I’d start with 2 stories I’ve heard from when my Uncle Gilbert was in the 2nd World War.

Uncle Gib was a driver. He hauled things. He once told me about a time when he was driving one of the army trucks, and his truck was shot at. The bullet went through his windshield, and he heard it zip past his ear.

Another story he talks about is the day that he and a bunch of his buddies got dressed up to go to a movie theatre. They got to the ticket wicket and were told that the movie had just sold out, and there was no more room. I don’t know where he went after that, but that night the movie theatre was bombed. My uncle went on to come home from the war, get married and have 4 children.

Then there is a story my Grandma Rempel told me about. As I told you, my grandparents lived in Carrick Manitoba (east of Steinbach). It was the beginning of winter, and my grandpa was home, but he had this nudging in his spirit that said he needed to go out to where two of the back roads crossed and start a fire. Grandma said that he had been sitting by the side of the fire for about 20 minutes, when out of the bush came 5 hunters from the US. They were lost, it was cold, and they were happy to see Grandpa sitting there. The hunters came to stay with grandma and grandpa for a few days before they went home. Had Grandpa not listened to that nudging…

My mom tells a story of driving in Winnipeg one day. She was at the corner of Hwy 59 and Almey Road sitting at a light. When the light changed she stepped on the gas, but the car would not move. Moments later a tanker truck came barrelling through the red light. Had her car moved, she would have been right in the path of that tanker truck.

Another story I read once about a man who wanted to learn how to listen when God speaks. So he prayed one day and told the Lord that he wanted to hear his voice. Almost immediately he felt the urgent need to by a gallon of milk. A gallon of milk? That made no sense, but He did it anyway. He got in his car and started driving. He got the urge to make a couple turns here and there, which brought him to a not so great area of the city he was living with. He stopped the car, and was “told” to go to this house across the street. Could you imagine how he felt?  My first reaction would be “but I don’t know where I am”, or “I’m going to feel stupid going up to that house with this milk”. This guy did it.

The person answering the door, screamed, grabbed the milk and ran with it to the back of the house. This family had been praying for God to provide as they had no money. When the gentleman who brought the milk found out what was happening he reached in his wallet and gave him the cash he had on hand. God used his obedience to bless another family.

I have one last story to share with you, and it is my own. Back in the early 90’s, I spent 2 years in weekly counselling sessions, because someone else’s sin had so affected my life (I will share this one day, but today‘s blog is not the time). I was in group counselling, and our assignment was to give each other cards with blessings written in them. I had gotten a card from my counsellor, and I read it as soon as our session was over and I was sitting in my car. Right after I read it, I felt like I had just gotten a big hug. (I wasn’t very big on physical contact with anyone at that time) there was no one in my car with me, so I knew who the hug had come from… It had been from the Lord, and It blessed me immensely.

Why do I tell you this? Because I think sometimes we forget the power of God. (I know I certainly do) We have put him in a “box” of what we think his abilities are. But God doesn’t belong in a box, He belongs in our hearts, and we need to allow him to freely use us and speak to us.