When I got home from church, I asked the Lord what I should tell my friends, since I would have to let them know soon if I wasn't coming. My car has been running fine, so the fairly remote possibility of car problems didn't seem like a very noble reason. He said, "Just tell them the truth." OK, it's settled, I thought -- I'll just stay here and call them shortly.
Not more than five or ten minutes later, I had a cookbook in my hand and was looking up cake recipes. ~ Oh, I see. ~ The Lord had other plans. He likes to live big, not in a tiny protected place. "There are people at social gatherings. People!"
Yes, Jesus, I should know this about You after all these years. After all, "People!" was the first message You ever gave me, the morning after You took up residence in this broken vessel.
...The event was very nice, and I met some new people I will remember and will pray for. I left in time to get home before dark. I was pleased and surprised to have all green lights on my way out of town. Strange, though, since I'd had virtually all green lights on my trip in as well.
The scenery on these back roads is stunning: rolling hills flecked with trees and farms and fences... the road unfurls like a roller coaster in front of you. There are a few spots where you suddenly find yourself within a wide panoramic circle, almost as though you're standing on top of the globe. God often speaks to me in these places. He sends me messages through the colors of the sky or the placement of the clouds. He calls from His artist's heart to mine, to say how much He loves me.
The sun was setting last night as I headed home; it was cherry red. Coming up the hill just before the most dramatic of these panoramas, I had asked Jesus a question. It was an intimate question, so I won't share it, but I will say that it required a simple Yes or No answer. When I got to the top of the hill, I started to weep. A long, thin band of grey cloud cut across the face of the cherry-red sun, and directly above the sun was something I've never seen before: not one but two "ghost" suns, both red. Three red suns, rising up from the horizon. His sweet, intense, and unmistakable answer to my question.
I was still in awe when I came to the stop sign at the bottom of the hill a minute later. I put my foot on the brake to stop; a loud SCRAAAPE sound came from the rear of the car.
I thanked the Lord for His protection; I asked for a minimum of stops on the remaining fifteen minutes of my trip. And I kept singing and praising Him. He is my Lord and Master. Everything I have and everything I am is His -- He will take care of me. Now I have two car problems, but He will take care of me.
It didn't hit me until some time later how exquisitely and minutely He had timed the brake problem. All but one of the stoplights were green, on both legs of my trip; this rarely happens except in the wee hours of the morning. And before alerting me to the brake problem, He first made sure I'd seen His breathtaking red "YES" painted in triplicate against the evening sky. His timing is perfect, but who knew He would rearrange time and space just to shout an uninterrupted "I LOVE YOU" across the sky?
Well, I knew. It's not the only time He's done this, after all. The first time was about two thousand years ago.