Desperate

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.