DON'T YOU JUST HATE IT WHEN YOUR PLANS ARE MESSED UP?

Have you ever started your day out with a frustrating situation, and after it was over, realized that God had been kind and merciful even in the difficulty?  That is the way my Sunday started.  I usually leave home about an hour and a half before Sunday school, so that I can get a McDonald's sausage McMuffin and a large diet coke.  However, today I didn't feel I should follow my routine, so when I got in line at the drive-through, I decided to get an apple turnover instead of the sandwich.  Well, not only was the line extremely slow today, by the time I got to the "pay-up" window, the manager was there to tell me it would take eight minutes to get the turnover prepared.  He said he had put the item in the oven when he saw my order on the monitor, and I told him I literally had sat in the line for more than eight minutes already.  Apparently he hadn't already started the turnover as he said, because he gave me a "free meal card" for my inconvenience, and when I got to the "pick up" window, the lady said to pull around, and that when it was finished, someone would bring it out to me.  Believe it or not, I sat out front for at least another ten minutes before it arrived.  Then it happened.  When I tried to put the car into drive, it was dead!  Oh great!

Well, as I thought about what I was going to do, two young men who had been seated on the patio with their wives, came over and told me to pop the hood.  One told me that it had to be the alternator, because I apparently had been driving on the battery power.  He checked and sure enough, the belt that connects everything, was gone!  One of them said, if I went to Auto Zone and got one, he would put it on right there in the McD's lot.  When I asked if Auto Zone was open at 8 a.m. on Sundays, and one of the wives called them to check; praise the Lord, they were!  I borrowed her cell phone (I don't own one), and called my wife, who arrived about ten minutes later.  We got the belt, and they fixed the car. 

Afterword, I started thinking about my granddaughter driving it the night before; I thanked God it didn't break down for her!  I remembered that the long ordeal of my drive through experience, had caused the car battery to die while I was parked next to the patio where my "rescuer" were.  The had tools; they had a cell phone; they had kind hearts; they were there for me by God's provision!  Had I driven down the road on my way to church, I would have broken down with no cell phone; with no rescuers; I would have been in a mess!

As it was, I actually was only about ten minutes late for Sunday school!  I am so thankful that God protected me from being stranded.  I am so thankful that my granddaughter didn't break down; I am so glad that Auto Zone was open!  And although it cost me for the belt, and I gave the good Samaritans some money for helping me, I was able to do that because my wife went next door to the McDonald's to the Meijer store where our bank's ATM is. 

The moral of the story:  when lines are long; when cashiers have a difficult time figuring out how much change she owed me; when car trouble throws you off schedule; there is a reason!  I invited one of the young men to church because he told me he was looking for a good church.  God is good!  Everything He allows to happen in our lives, is for a reason - a good reason!  Praise the Lord!