One night around midnight, as we slept in our third floor apartment, we were awakened by sirens, spotlights, and a loud speaker telling us to remain in the building. The street below was lined with fire trucks. Everything worked out okay, and we later learned that a cooking fire on the second floor had prompted the alarm. But that was just the first of three fires.
When I arrived at school, I learned that at about the same time as our fire, a fire had also occurred in the school's dormitory because a student left a hair dryer running. That fire also did not cause a lot of damage. And then, in the student assembly that day we learned that also during that same night there was yet another fire, and it was a big one. It caused the First Assembly of God church in Detroit to burn to the ground.
There were three fires in one night. What significance do I give this you might ask? On the surface it seems to be a strange coincidence, and I have trouble finding any deep meaning in it. I certainly don't believe God is in the business of starting fires just to create coincidences. But I do believe that God allows things to happen for reasons only he knows.
I believe that coincidences can let Christians know that God loves us, is here with us, and they can even point us to where he is leading. They have done all of that for us in the past.
So if I may speculate, possibly the only reason for such a coincidence was to increase the faith of the students at North Central Bible College, and the only reason for allowing the fire in my building might have been simply because he knew this story would someday wind up in a book!
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By the end of that first year of college, our cash had dwindled. Brenda was working at McDonald’s, and I began looking for a job to get us through the summer. Answering ads and knocking on doors seemed to take forever. It eventually resulted in a job at a local machine shop. By summer's end they offered to promote me to Production Engineer – but only if I promised to stay and not go back to school. With funds tight, it seemed the only real option anyway. So I continued to work at this company for the next four years.
It was a high stress job that demanded long hours but provided good income. We bought a house a block away, and Brenda switched to Taco Bell where she was promoted to Assistant Manager. And this was before kids. My sister called us a DINK couple – Double Income No Kids!
Obviously, these were years of plenty. Yet all the while, I realized that I was tired and stressed, and never felt rested in the mornings. Usually, when I woke up, I would experience a deep sense of dread, until I consumed caffeine. Then, I would gradually feel better as the day wore on. I also would experience nervousness, frequent panic attacks, and an overall sense of tiredness. Then, by evening I would be wide awake, and ready to stay up all night. I was convinced I needed a miracle, and continued to pray for healing, but it would be another decade before healing would come.
Lessons on I90
While we lived in Minneapolis, we would make trips on almost all holidays to the Illinois-Wisconsin state line to visit family and friends. Of course, these trips were often in winter. On one snowy return trip we were in heavy traffic and passed a stalled car with an elderly couple inside. A white handkerchief had been tied to the antenna.
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We concluded that they most likely had run out of gas, but in seconds we were already too far past to pull over.
We talked about circling back, but it seemed the extra interstate miles would be difficult. So we continued on and prayed that someone else would help. I assumed that this was the end of that, but God had something else in mind.
About two hundred miles later as darkness fell, we also ran out of gas. After digging a gas can out of the trunk I stood beside the road and put out a thumb, hoping for a lift.
But no one stopped. I finally got back in the car to stay warm, but even in the car it was cold.
Of course, it was difficult not to connect our own misfortune with the earlier decision not to return to help the elderly couple. As we sat there, I wondered aloud if we would spend the same amount of time in the cold waiting for help as they had! In all, it was about ninety minutes that we sat there shivering, all the while staring at a road sign in front of us that said, “Black River Falls, 1/4 mile.”
The words became burned into our brains. We didn’t realize at the time how meaningful that sign would become.
Eventually a state trooper stopped and called for roadside assistance. Soon, we were back on the road, but that is not the end of the story.
On the same return leg of our next trip we came upon a car with a flat tire. We could see several people, including kids, standing around the car. Remembering our previous experience, I immediately pulled in behind them to offer help. It was an older model car, and they were genuinely stranded for lack of a spare tire. Fortunately, I had a can of tire sealant which inflated their tire enough to drive on. Then we prepared to follow them to a gas station.
After we got into the car we noticed the sight before us. It was hard to believe we hadn't seen it right away. This family had been staring at the same Black River Falls road sign that we had stared at when we were stranded. It was almost as if God was saying, "Yes, I gave you a second 79
chance, and because of your obedience I am blessing you by letting you see my hand in this situation."
Still, I would not want to limit the scope of this little miracle to the world that Brenda and I share. Surely, this was also a miracle for the stranded family. At a moment of extreme stress, Brenda and I showed up to lend a helping hand, which was also likely an answer to a prayer that they prayed, and a lesson on God's faithfulness for them. I like to believe that God had purposes for all of us that were fulfilled by this simple act of obedience.
Sometimes, when you don't pray about important decisions it leads to regret later. Shortly after Brenda and I arrived in Minneapolis we began attending a new church which was meeting in Elliott Park across from the Bible school. Marty Nagel was the pastor, and he was also starting a music group. Brenda and I attended a practice. I told them they needed a sound man, and they gave me the job. They named the group Innermission. Our group was racially diverse and we embraced a jazz style of music. Over the next few years, we played a regular series of concerts around the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The group had two great female lead singers, Dee Dee and Felicia, along with Mark on sax, Max on violin, Myron on bass, and Paul on drums. They all sang backup, and Marty played the electric piano. Brenda also attended practices, and provided feedback. Our reputation spread, and we were being invited to progressively larger venues.
Once we were the opening band at a large outdoor concert for the popular Christian group, The Imperials. This caused us to ponder whether God was calling us to go full time on the road. I am ashamed to admit that without even asking God, I took the position that Brenda and I were not interested in such a venture. The reality is that I was working long hours and felt burned out. In the decades since I have regretted not praying about it first. Who knows, maybe God would have had us make a huge lifestyle change and go into full time ministry!
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I still have a recording of an outdoor concert we shared with the group Messenger. Now I need to stop procrastinating, and get some copies to former band members. I should also mention that one of our sons, Jonathan, followed in his dad’s footsteps. He now works full time as a sound man for Henderson Hills Baptist church in Oklahoma!
This dream is prophetic
In the summer of 1988, a planned vacation had us meeting friends from Illinois for a week of camping at Wisconsin Dells. In the weeks before the trip, I built a pontoon boat out of plastic barrels and treated wood, then modified a utility trailer to haul it. When we arrived at the Dells, it was unfinished and took half of our vacation just to get it into the water.
Brenda at the wheel – eyes closed, and no hands!
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I am sure the other campers appreciated the sound of power tools! The hard work ultimately paid off with a few boat trips. On one trip there were twelve of us on board –
kids included – when waves from a passing tour boat swamped the deck. I prayed hard that the boat's construction would hold, and thankfully it did.
The boat's big problem was that it had a used motor.
After a few trips, the motor quit, stranding us a mile from home at midnight in a dense fog with one passenger experiencing flu symptoms. We ended up paddling all the way back to camp, and felt fortunate just to find our dock in the fog. So a vacation that was supposed to be fun and relaxing ended up filled with hard work and danger.
Yet, in spite of the difficulties, I felt tremendous relief to be away from the stress of work. Brenda also felt relief, and longed to move closer to family and friends. So it was on this vacation that we made the decision to quit our jobs and move back to Illinois.
When vacation was over, we gave notice to our employers well in advance. I gave my company a year's notice, because I was involved in a large and costly automation design project, and wanted a smooth transition.
But as the quit date neared it seemed I would not be able to leave because the project was far from complete. So Brenda and I began to pray that God would intervene. And then, about two weeks before my quit date, I had a vivid dream.
In the dream, I was driving our car with Brenda and some friends past houses. Out of a chimney of a two-story brick house came a snake made of smoke, which found its way through the rear window and bit me in the back of my neck. We then made a right turn. I was afraid that snakes might come out of other chimneys also, but somehow I knew that turning the corner meant this would never happen again.
I then found myself saying with authority, "This dream is prophetic, and it will come to pass.”
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At that point, I awoke in pitch black darkness in the middle of the night. I thought, "Wow – that's amazing. I've never had a dream like that. I'll have to remember it." But I promptly fell back to sleep.
As morning approached, I had the same exact dream all over again, with all the same details. And again, as I awoke I found myself saying, "This dream is prophetic, and it will come to pass." But this time, instead of darkness, I awoke in bright daylight and immediately realized I had had two identical dreams! The dreams made quite an impression and I decided to spend a little time seeking God before getting ready for work. As I opened my ASV study Bible, the first verse I saw was this one in Proverbs:
“The north wind brings forth rain: so does a backbiting tongue an angry countenance.” [Proverbs 25:23]
The verse was talking about gossip. It was easy to see that the backbiting snake could represent gossip. Like smoke, gossip is not a physical threat. With that, I could do little more than wonder if it might be fulfilled anytime soon, so I got ready for work.
I did not have to wait long. When I got to work, I was told that I had been fired. The timing was about two weeks before the quit date I had given. At home, we immediately rented a U-Haul and began packing. A day or so later I stopped by the shop and learned the owner had been told by employees that they believed I would not finish the job, but would move to Illinois on the quit date we had told him. I told him that this was not true. I intended all along to stay as long as it took to finish the project, even though I knew this might mean staying more weeks or months in Minneapolis.
He then offered my job back. But we were already half-packed, so I declined.
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Getting fired actually was a blessing, for it allowed us to make the move without the entanglement of waiting for a break in work. So even though I felt emotional shock, the dream said to me that God cared about us and was directing our steps.
The move took two trips, and resulted in our being stranded in Wisconsin for three nightmarish days when the pontoon boat's trailer broke. The events might have seemed hilarious if they weren't so tragic. A blowout cracked a tire rim which turned out to be obsolete. This meant we had to replace the axle, yet no new axles were short enough to fit between the boat's pontoons. In the end it took three days to modify a new axle and install it while we remained stranded.
At the time, it was hard to see God's hand in any of this. One night as we worked late into the night we were in tears.
Eventually we made it safely to Illinois, where we were welcomed to share a home with the two couples we had vacationed with. •
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