Stirred by the Spirit

On my drive home from NY, as the snow on my roof melted, there was a most disturbing occurrence. A drip drip drip began to bathe my left thigh, coming from somewhere above me. I tried sopping it up with a napkin, but it continued to drip. Finally, I duct taped that entire portion of the ceiling, which didn't stop the drip, but at least directed it to drip on the floor rather than on my leg.

So, I brought my car to the dealer yesterday. I hate going to the dealer because it always seems to cost so much more than independent repair shops. However, figuring this might require body work and specific Honda parts, I reluctantly made the appointment. I was sure we were in for thousands of dollars of repair. I don't trust car repair shops in the first place, but I really don't trust dealers.

"For now," said the service rep, "We will quote $150. We will call you when we know what is causing the leak."
$150. Yeh...right. Probably would end up ten times that amount. I went for a walk since they told me it would be at least two hours, but hopefully not more. I had lunch, and they called even before I finished.
The leak was caused by corrosion around the roof rack, and was now fixed. The bill was $150. I paused. $150?  What was the world coming to??? An honest car dealership????

As I walked back to the shop, I was scurrying across the parking lot when an announcement blared from a sound system.
"Bible study starting in 5 minutes. For all those attending, our bible study will begin in five minutes."

I stopped in my tracks. I looked around me, wondering if there was a church perhaps next door to the dealer. There was not. Just more car dealerships. The announcement was repeated. There was no doubt. The Bible study announcement was over the car dealership's PA system.

God is full of conundrums and enigmas. Cyrus, king of Persia in the mid 500's BC, controlled and ruled over a vast empire, including the Israelites who'd been in captivity since the Babylonian conquest. He was not a believer of the One True God, by any means. Like all people other than the Israelites of that time, he believed in many gods. Yet, this pagan king allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, and even urged the Persian people to pay the Israelites money they would need for supplies and sustenance!

You just never know where you might encounter hope and the Spirit of God. You never know when God will smack your preconceptions in the face, and bring about a surprising turn of events. You never know who God will use to accomplish His plans. You are almost never told why...but out of the most unlikely places, God's presence is revealed.

I intend to give this particular dealership my business in the future.

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Ezra 1:1-11

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.” Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem.