Week of January 29
Approximately twenty years ago I was working as a secretary in a steamship company in New Orleans. I had been there a couple of years but because I had studied to be a legal secretary, I was ready to get a job with a law firm. I started to seek God’s guidance to help me find a job where I could utilize my legal training. During lunch hour, I would take my Bible and head behind the office building where there were benches and fountains.
While I was out there I would often see homeless people and panhandlers. There was one man in particular that was there every day. Eventually, he came to me and asked what I was reading and I told him. He asked if I was a Jesus freak and I said yes I am. He said I made him feel uncomfortable when he was trying to ask people for money. I told him I had no condemnation for him, but that I thought he seemed able bodied enough to work. I also shared my desire to get a job with a law firm.
We became speaking friends and one day he said, “Since you know God so well, why don’t you pray that I get a job.” At that moment I put my hand on his shoulder and started praying out loud. “Not here, not now,” he protested. I just kept praying. That was on a Thursday. On Monday he came running up to me at lunch. He was clean and groomed and I hardly recognized him.
An attorney who he had been asking for money had hired him as a custodian. I was happy for him but I was jealous. I said (silently of course) God, I am the one who wanted a job with a law firm, have you mixed things up here or what? I was sure God knew what he was doing and I thanked him for giving this man a job.
About a week later, the man came to me and said, “I have an interview for you at the law firm. The senior partner needs a secretary.”
I thought this would take an act of faith for me to go on an interview at the recommendation of this man. Were they just humoring him? Those thoughts vanished immediately because I knew no matter what; I would do nothing to cause him to waiver in his belief in answered prayers. I was not going to let pride prevent me from going and thereby show a lack of faith.
I thanked God for the opportunity, went on the interview and I was hired on the spot. The attorneys still tell people that the best employment recommendation they ever had was from a homeless man. I quickly remind them that God alone was the employment agency. God will answer your prayer when you step out in faith. God also has a wonderful sense of humor.
Carolyn Bourgeois
New Orleans, La.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Pray Specifically
She is introduced to a breakfast group as Ms Jane. You don’t use last names when you are running. She rode a bus to Florida with one suitcase and the clothes on her back. She had been directed to a shelter for abused women and given a meal. The next morning she went looking for employment.
“I was able to wait on tables and within a couple of weeks I had enough tips to rent a small apartment. What I really needed was a car to go on interviews and find a better job. So I prayed very specifically for a four-door Camry (she had had one once) so I could take people to church with me. I wanted a clean beige or brown car.
“A few days later I received a call from a caring organization that donates used cars to needy people. They had heard of my plight and called to say they had a car for me.”
“When I arrived to pickup my car I was told the donor had taken it to a car wash. A few minutes later a car entered the parking lot and I knew it
was a gift from God. It was a sparkling beige four-door Camry fresh from the car wash.”
Ms Jane
New York, New York
“I was able to wait on tables and within a couple of weeks I had enough tips to rent a small apartment. What I really needed was a car to go on interviews and find a better job. So I prayed very specifically for a four-door Camry (she had had one once) so I could take people to church with me. I wanted a clean beige or brown car.
“A few days later I received a call from a caring organization that donates used cars to needy people. They had heard of my plight and called to say they had a car for me.”
“When I arrived to pickup my car I was told the donor had taken it to a car wash. A few minutes later a car entered the parking lot and I knew it
was a gift from God. It was a sparkling beige four-door Camry fresh from the car wash.”
Ms Jane
New York, New York
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Locked Out
Week of January 15
Normally when my car is unlocked the trunk is unlocked but now the car is unlocked and I can’t get the trunk open even with a key. The garage owner tries several times-no go. “Take it to a locksmith,” he says. This morning I notice a lone key on the rack. I try it. The trunk opens.
For most of my life I was trying the wrong keys to open the meaning of my life. Then I found the one key that stands alone. Who holds the key to your life?
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
Normally when my car is unlocked the trunk is unlocked but now the car is unlocked and I can’t get the trunk open even with a key. The garage owner tries several times-no go. “Take it to a locksmith,” he says. This morning I notice a lone key on the rack. I try it. The trunk opens.
For most of my life I was trying the wrong keys to open the meaning of my life. Then I found the one key that stands alone. Who holds the key to your life?
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
Monday, January 9, 2012
Masters Quartet
Week of January 9, 2012
We were on our way back to Fayetteville NC from Augusta, Georgia where we sang to about 700 people in the First Baptist Church when our old bus broke down along I-95 somewhere in South Carolina. We thought at first we had blown a tire but then we realized the engine was still running but it wouldn’t go in gear.
Our piano player Earl Britt said,” the only thing I know to do is to start praying.”
We are on our knees when there is a knock on the side of the bus. I get up and go to the door and here is an elderly gentleman with a straw hat, white shirt and bib overalls and a sports jacket. He says you boys a quartet? Now we’ve got letters on the side of the bus that are three feet high that say Masters Quartet. I chuckled and said Yes Sir. He says would you boys be able to sing tonight? I was just getting ready to tell him no, when my younger brother Tommy jerked me out of the way and says. “Yes sir we will but we can’t go, our bus broke down.”
He says, “That’s no problem, I can be back in about 15 minutes. with some trucks to take you and your equipment to my house. In about twenty minutes he came back with two Ford Stake trucks. a station wagon and a wrecker.I told the wrecker driver that we didn’t have any money and to leave the bus be. The love offering we received from
the Baptist church was only $50 and between us we didn’t have $200.
We all pile in the trucks and station wagon and go to the preacher’s house which is out n the country about 30 miles from the interstate. When we arrive his wife has dinner ready for us. The food was set up on two long tables. We finish eating and watch a little TV. What we didn’t know was that this preacher, his wife and two children all had separate telephone lines and were calling people and telling them to be at the church at 6:30.
We learn that Pastor Reed had been a preacher for an Assembly of God church in Indiana. When his parents died he had come to South Carolina to live on their farm. When the pastor of the local Presbyterian church died he was asked if he would fill in. He’s been filling in for several years now.
When we get to this old wooden church in the middle of a tobacco field it is packed. After singing about five songs the preacher tells us to go back to where the refreshments are as he is going to take up a love offering for us. After what happened at the First Baptist church I’m kind of leery and I stand by the door.
When the ushers come forward with the plates he looks over the podium and says ,“that ain’t goner work…these boys sang at a big Baptist church in Augusta and they got $50…that ain’t happenin here. Now I’m gonna send these ushers back out and when they come back if these plates aren’t full I’m gonna tell what I know and who I know it on.”
They finish the collection and call us back out and we sing a little more and the last song we did was Sinner Saved by Grace. We use that at our altar call. As the preacher is praying this little blonde haired girl comes running down the aisle to ask God to save her. She had run away from home and had been gone for sometime and had returned home and asked her mommy and daddy to forgive her and they said if God has forgiven you we will. And that is why she was running to the altar to ask God to forgive her and become her Savior.
After all was said and done our piano player says to me, “Is that our bus I hear running outside?” I look out the door and there is the wrecker driver standing by our bus in greasy overalls with his hat in his hand.
I say, “you fixed it.”
He says, “Yep.”
“How much do we owe you?”
“You owe us nothing.”
“What do you mean?”
He says, “that little girl who just went to the altar is my daughter. She wouldn’t have come if y’all hadn’t been here tonight.”
I asked him what was wrong with our bus and he says all the bolts on the fly wheel had fallen out and were laying in the dust pan.
“ Wait a minute. I’m mechanic enough to know that bolts don’t fall out of a flywheel, especially on a bus. They have locking caps on them and they don’t fall out, you have to drill them out.”
He says, “Every one of them was laying in the pan and not a threat on anyone of them was torn off. God backed the bolts out of that flywheel so you would be here so my daughter would hear the singing and your testimony that you brought here tonight.”
As we drove home I opened the envelope containing our love offering. We counted out coins and small bills totaling $ 1200. .
About four months later we got a phone call from Preacher Reed who said they were trying to raise money to build a new church. He wanted a gospel sing and would we help. We got three and four other groups we knew and we drove to South Carolina to sing in the middle of a football field standing on a flatbed trailer. That night they raised over $100,000.
They built the church and invited us back to sing at their first service . When we pulled up in front of the church there was a big piece of marble block on the Northeast corner of the building. Inscribed on that block was Masters Quartet and they listed all ten names in our group, the four singers, the five musicians, and our bus driver.
We kept in touch over the years and we went back and sang at Preacher Reed’s funeral. He had filled in for 15 years.
Lee Bissette
Fayetteville,N.C.
We were on our way back to Fayetteville NC from Augusta, Georgia where we sang to about 700 people in the First Baptist Church when our old bus broke down along I-95 somewhere in South Carolina. We thought at first we had blown a tire but then we realized the engine was still running but it wouldn’t go in gear.
Our piano player Earl Britt said,” the only thing I know to do is to start praying.”
We are on our knees when there is a knock on the side of the bus. I get up and go to the door and here is an elderly gentleman with a straw hat, white shirt and bib overalls and a sports jacket. He says you boys a quartet? Now we’ve got letters on the side of the bus that are three feet high that say Masters Quartet. I chuckled and said Yes Sir. He says would you boys be able to sing tonight? I was just getting ready to tell him no, when my younger brother Tommy jerked me out of the way and says. “Yes sir we will but we can’t go, our bus broke down.”
He says, “That’s no problem, I can be back in about 15 minutes. with some trucks to take you and your equipment to my house. In about twenty minutes he came back with two Ford Stake trucks. a station wagon and a wrecker.I told the wrecker driver that we didn’t have any money and to leave the bus be. The love offering we received from
the Baptist church was only $50 and between us we didn’t have $200.
We all pile in the trucks and station wagon and go to the preacher’s house which is out n the country about 30 miles from the interstate. When we arrive his wife has dinner ready for us. The food was set up on two long tables. We finish eating and watch a little TV. What we didn’t know was that this preacher, his wife and two children all had separate telephone lines and were calling people and telling them to be at the church at 6:30.
We learn that Pastor Reed had been a preacher for an Assembly of God church in Indiana. When his parents died he had come to South Carolina to live on their farm. When the pastor of the local Presbyterian church died he was asked if he would fill in. He’s been filling in for several years now.
When we get to this old wooden church in the middle of a tobacco field it is packed. After singing about five songs the preacher tells us to go back to where the refreshments are as he is going to take up a love offering for us. After what happened at the First Baptist church I’m kind of leery and I stand by the door.
When the ushers come forward with the plates he looks over the podium and says ,“that ain’t goner work…these boys sang at a big Baptist church in Augusta and they got $50…that ain’t happenin here. Now I’m gonna send these ushers back out and when they come back if these plates aren’t full I’m gonna tell what I know and who I know it on.”
They finish the collection and call us back out and we sing a little more and the last song we did was Sinner Saved by Grace. We use that at our altar call. As the preacher is praying this little blonde haired girl comes running down the aisle to ask God to save her. She had run away from home and had been gone for sometime and had returned home and asked her mommy and daddy to forgive her and they said if God has forgiven you we will. And that is why she was running to the altar to ask God to forgive her and become her Savior.
After all was said and done our piano player says to me, “Is that our bus I hear running outside?” I look out the door and there is the wrecker driver standing by our bus in greasy overalls with his hat in his hand.
I say, “you fixed it.”
He says, “Yep.”
“How much do we owe you?”
“You owe us nothing.”
“What do you mean?”
He says, “that little girl who just went to the altar is my daughter. She wouldn’t have come if y’all hadn’t been here tonight.”
I asked him what was wrong with our bus and he says all the bolts on the fly wheel had fallen out and were laying in the dust pan.
“ Wait a minute. I’m mechanic enough to know that bolts don’t fall out of a flywheel, especially on a bus. They have locking caps on them and they don’t fall out, you have to drill them out.”
He says, “Every one of them was laying in the pan and not a threat on anyone of them was torn off. God backed the bolts out of that flywheel so you would be here so my daughter would hear the singing and your testimony that you brought here tonight.”
As we drove home I opened the envelope containing our love offering. We counted out coins and small bills totaling $ 1200. .
About four months later we got a phone call from Preacher Reed who said they were trying to raise money to build a new church. He wanted a gospel sing and would we help. We got three and four other groups we knew and we drove to South Carolina to sing in the middle of a football field standing on a flatbed trailer. That night they raised over $100,000.
They built the church and invited us back to sing at their first service . When we pulled up in front of the church there was a big piece of marble block on the Northeast corner of the building. Inscribed on that block was Masters Quartet and they listed all ten names in our group, the four singers, the five musicians, and our bus driver.
We kept in touch over the years and we went back and sang at Preacher Reed’s funeral. He had filled in for 15 years.
Lee Bissette
Fayetteville,N.C.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Airport Delay
Week of January 1
My flight from Hartford to Sarasota is canceled.
I call Joy and she says "Look around and see who you can help. Go do the Lord's work."
As I hang up the phone I spot a man in a wheelchair looking at his ticket. I wheel him to the next gate.
The agent redoes his ticket and turns to me.
"Oh I'm not on his flight," I tell him, “I ‘m going to Florida but my flight to Charlotte was canceled."
He types qiuckly on his keyboard and then says: "I can get you to Tampa. Will that help?"
Tampa is only an hour away from Sarasota. Joy drives up we have dinner together after all because I listened to her advice. We you help someone you in turned are helped.
" Lord when did I see you a stranger and take you in? Surely I say to you when you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it to Me." (Matthew 25:38-40
My flight from Hartford to Sarasota is canceled.
I call Joy and she says "Look around and see who you can help. Go do the Lord's work."
As I hang up the phone I spot a man in a wheelchair looking at his ticket. I wheel him to the next gate.
The agent redoes his ticket and turns to me.
"Oh I'm not on his flight," I tell him, “I ‘m going to Florida but my flight to Charlotte was canceled."
He types qiuckly on his keyboard and then says: "I can get you to Tampa. Will that help?"
Tampa is only an hour away from Sarasota. Joy drives up we have dinner together after all because I listened to her advice. We you help someone you in turned are helped.
" Lord when did I see you a stranger and take you in? Surely I say to you when you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it to Me." (Matthew 25:38-40
Sunday, January 1, 2012
New Years Day
January 1
It isn’t a typical start to a New Year.
My wife Joy wants to let God orchestrate this New Year. At Christmas Joy asked that we give Jesus something on His birthday. We realized that meant giving something of ourselves. Lord, I thought, give me the opportunity to share this idea with others.
The day after Christmas the associate pastor of our church called saying,” I was praying for someone to talk on New Years resolutions and how they differ once you become a believer…and your name kept coming to mind.”
What a way to begin a year, in His will.
“In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.”
(Proverbs 3:6)
It isn’t a typical start to a New Year.
My wife Joy wants to let God orchestrate this New Year. At Christmas Joy asked that we give Jesus something on His birthday. We realized that meant giving something of ourselves. Lord, I thought, give me the opportunity to share this idea with others.
The day after Christmas the associate pastor of our church called saying,” I was praying for someone to talk on New Years resolutions and how they differ once you become a believer…and your name kept coming to mind.”
What a way to begin a year, in His will.
“In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.”
(Proverbs 3:6)
New Year's Eve
December 31
Four grandparents wait for the arrival of a granddaughter. I’m sure this baby, three weeks overdue, will be here by years end for I had prayed for that and heard a clear ‘yes.’ Midnight—no baby! The message had been so clear. Did I misunderstand? At 12:15 the new father reports baby is here. I ask when was she born? “At 11:45,” he says apologetically, “ I’ve been busy cleaning her up.”
“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” (Deuteronomy 7:9)
Four grandparents wait for the arrival of a granddaughter. I’m sure this baby, three weeks overdue, will be here by years end for I had prayed for that and heard a clear ‘yes.’ Midnight—no baby! The message had been so clear. Did I misunderstand? At 12:15 the new father reports baby is here. I ask when was she born? “At 11:45,” he says apologetically, “ I’ve been busy cleaning her up.”
“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” (Deuteronomy 7:9)
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