FAITH FOR A SAW

FAITH FOR A SAW


It is so easy for children to believe. A veil seems to come over our minds in adulthood and it become hard for us to have faith.
When our grandson Jesse was about five years old he wanted his own saw. Actually he had wanted his own saw for several years but the children's toy saws we bought him did not satisfy his longing for a real saw. He was too little and saws are dangerous, we all told him repeatedly.
One day he and his mom decided to go for a walk, with his mom pushing Jesse's little sister in her stroller. Jesse commented to his mom that she must look down at the ground on their walk because his saw would be found on the ground when they walked. You can imagine how that computed with his mom. She doubtingly thought sure, of course we'll find a saw on the ground on our walk.
They went on their journey and ended up at a small park pretty far from their house. Jesse looked down at the ground all the way to the park and reminded his mom repeatedly to look for his saw on the ground. After arriving at the park, he busied himself playing, like little boys always do. His mom decided to continue pushing little sister in the stroller while walking around the perimeter of the park to get more exercise. Jesse's reminder to his mom to look for his saw became more insistent.
As his mom reported to me a couple of days later, she was gingerly walking along and happened to glance down on the ground. There in plain sight was a blade to a saw. Jesse had never seen the saw at that park before with his natural eyes, but somehow his spiritual eyes had seen the saw blade or he would not have been so insistent about looking. As adults, we must look for miracles with the same childlike belief that Jesse had, knowing that the desires of our hearts are important to God.

GOD THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES

When our grandson Jesse was about four years old he had to have some reconstructive surgery at a hospital in a neighboring state. It was serious outpatient surgery. The thoughts of his parents were just simply on getting through the surgery and getting home with an active four year old in the car, even though they assumed he would still be groggy from the anesthesia. The afternoon before the operation, Jesse's parents drove him in their car to the big city in the neighboring state since surgery was scheduled for early the next morning. Everything went as planned and the surgery was successful. Jesse was a cooperative patient. After spending a few hours in recovery, he and his parents left the specialty hospital with him swathed in bandages but bright and alert. They had a long trip home which would take over six hours. They went merrily on their long way home, anxious of course, with the four year old in the back seat attached to a catheter, so it was expedient that they get home as quickly as possible. About halfway home, the car sputtered and then stopped. Jesse's dad was able to pull the car over to the shoulder. The gas gage had been sporadically misbehaving and it showed a little gas in the tank, but they had erroneously assumed that there was enough gasoline in the tank to get them further down the road to a gas station. This was an unhappy predicament. They were in the middle of nowhere. What to do, what to do, what to do, was the dilemma. Since this was before cell phones were readily available, they had no means of communicating with anyone while on the highway. Suddenly two men appeared out of nowhere. One man was carrying a gas can filled with gasoline. The men asked the stranded travelers if help was needed. Jesse's parents couldn't believe their eyes and ears. Neither one of them asked the men why it was assumed that they needed gasoline nor did they ask where the men came from, they were just very grateful to be rescued so they could be on their way home. The men helped put the gasoline in the car, and it was enough to get them to the next gas station. Years later five of our grandchildren were talking about God, and one mentioned that no one had ever seen God so nobody knows what he looks like. Jesse remarked, "Oh, I know what He looks like because I've seen Him." His cousins teased him about the remark and asked, "Oh, yeah, when did you ever see God?" A confident answer came from Jesse. He said, "I saw God when Mom and Dad and I ran out of gas one time and God showed up with a gas can with gasoline for us." No one told him that it was God, but he instinctively knew it had to be God because it was a miracle. His mom and dad remarked that the two men were angels, but Jesse says it was God. I think a child always knows God when he sees Him, so I believe Jesse's assessment is more accurate. Praise God that angels or God, whichever, carry gas cans filled with gasoline for stranded motorists who are in dire need of a miracle. We're not going to strain at a gnat in trying to figure out who it was. We just accept God's help anytime we receive it. God and Jesse know who was there. The rest of us are just very, very grateful that a tense situation came to a happy ending with God getting thanks and praise from our family for continuing to be the ultimate Rescuer, no matter what He looks like.