Jason pealed back the roofing inspecting the plywood
sheathing for signs of dry rot. He was having another bad day at work because
his home life was in the toilet. Jason had worked for the Iron County School’s
maintenance department for the last seven years. He married his wife at the local
temple in Cedar City.
As Jason ripped back the roofing he thought about
how his own life was being torn apart by his wife’s love for another man. Becka
was on the quiet side, wore plain, drab cotton dresses that fell loosely from her
neck down past her ankles and went to temple twice a week. Each day she slipped on the same pair of black
flats, put her hair up in a bun and never let makeup touch her pristine white
skin. They had been separated for several months.
Jason missed his five children and had not seen them
since Becka left. She had disappeared with another man into a commune compound located
somewhere in the Arizona Sonora desert. As the sun continued to beat down on
him he soon reached a boiling point. You see, Jason had been contemplating
killing himself and had a loaded nine millimeter semi automatic pistol in his work
overalls.
As the sun’s heat burned so did his anger and in a
moment of desperation Jason called out to God for forgiveness and reached for
the pistol that was in his pocket. From the school’s flat roof area nobody
would be able to see what was going to happen next.
Jason prayed quickly “God I’m sorry…so sorry, but I
can’t go on. Please watch over my children and forgive Becka. Show me what I
need now, send me the answer, send me peace”.
Only the loud echo of the pistol’s chamber firing a
single lead bullet into the soft tissue of Jason’s skull would be the next
sound heard. There would be no mess to clean up, no tragic scene for the Junior
High kids to witness just a momentary sound like a crack of thunder and the
silence of a man’s life evaporating into thin air.
Directly below the roof where Jason was working, a
man from the Gideon Bible Society was busy handing out bibles to any girl or
boy who would take one. A young man from the local temple named Kyle approached
the Gideon representative and grabbing a bible out of his hand threw it as hard
as he could up and out of sight up and onto the roof.
“We don’t need your shallow theology here mister, I
belong to the only true church!” spouted Kyle as his arm followed through and the
blue leather bound NKJV bible cleared the corner of the school’s ten foot high flat
roof.
Meanwhile, on the roof, Jason closed his eyes as his
sweaty finger squeezed slowly on the pistol’s trigger. Suddenly, there was a
loud sound as the blue, leather projectile found its mark hitting Jason
squarely on the jaw knocking the pistol out of his hand. Jason blacked out as
he fell limply to the tar roof. He awoke several hours later with an extreme
headache and the blurry text from the open book his face was lying on.
“Yes, the Lord hears the good man when he calls to
him for help, and saves him out of all his troubles.” Psalm 34:17 Living Bible.
Jason sat upright but was still a bit wobbly. “Thanks
Lord, How did you ever manage that?” Jason mumbled as he looked around and continued
to rub his chin.
Later that week Jason saw the man from the Gideon
Bible Society. “I wanted to thank you sir, God used you to save my life and
knock some sense in me.” Spoke Jason humbly as he vigorously shook the Gideon’s
hand.
The Gideon opened up his bible to the book of Romans
and read “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 NKJV.
The men smiled at each other, gave a quick hug and
turned to go back to the lives that they both were living. This story, while
being recreated, actually happened. While names and places have been changed, God
is in the miracle business and showed up just at the right time in Jason’s
life. God hears the prayers of desperate
men and women and will often intervene at the appropriate time. Nothing is
impossible for God.
If you are desperate, thinking that it is time to
check out, then think again. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your
life, you just cannot see it at the moment but all things are working out for
good so stick around and watch.
