Courage-
Courage is a resistance to fear, mastery of fear- not absence of fear.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Miracles-
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
Albert Einstein
A story from Mountain Wings-
http://www.mountainwings.com/
I strongly suggest requesting their daily email. They are very relatable and mind opening.
A few years ago in downtown Denver, my friend, Scott, and I saw something tiny and insignificant that changed the world, but no one else even seemed to notice.
It was one of those beautiful Denver days. Crystal clear, no humidity, not a cloud in the sky. We decided to walk the ten blocks to an outdoor restaurant rather than take the shuttle bus that runs up and down the Sixteenth Street Mall. The restaurant, in the shape of a baseball diamond, was called The Blake Street Baseball Club. The tables were set appropriately on the grass infield. Many Colorful pennants and flags hung limply overhead.
As we sat outside, the sun continued to beat down on us and it became increasingly hot. There wasn't a hint of a breeze, and heat radiated up from the tabletop. Nothing moved, except the waiters, of course. And they didn't move very fast either.
After lunch, Scott and I started to walk back up the mall. We both noticed a mother and her young daughter walking out of a card shop toward the street. She was holding her daughter by the hand while reading a greeting card. It was immediately apparent to us that she was so engrossed in the card that she did not notice a shuttle bus moving toward her at a good clip.
She and her daughter were one step away from disaster when Scott started to yell.
He hadn't even gotten a word out when a breeze blew the card out of her hand and over her shoulder. She spun around and grabbed at the card, nearly knocking her daughter over. By the time she picked up the card from the ground and turned back around to cross the street, the shuttle bus had whizzed by her. She never even knew what almost happened.
To this day, two things continue to perplex me about this event:
Where did that one spurt of wind come from to blow the card out of that young mother's hand? There had not been a whisper of wind at lunch or during our long walk back up the mall.
Secondly, if Scott had been able to get his words out, the young mother might have looked up at us as they continued to walk into the bus.
It was the wind that made her turn back to the card in the one direction that saved her life and that of her daughter. The passing bus did not create the wind. On the contrary, the wind came from the opposite direction. I have no doubt it was a breath from God protecting them both.
But the awesomeness of this miracle is that she never knew. As we continued back to work, I wondered how God often acts in our lives without our being aware. The difference between life and death can very well be a little thing.
What a cool story huh? The hand of God must be involved with every part of life. Whether it is good or bad. You never know is the point. You have to sit back and reflect on the little things that happened to see God’s will in your life.
Yesterday started out slowly. I laid around for pretty much all of the day. Little did I know I was going to have a mountain wings moment. Around 6pm or so, I got a real sudden urge to get up and get some food as well as feed the dogs. I knew the following day I was going to take Angie’s car in to get worked on. All her wheels need alignment as well as needing 4 new tires. It has needed this for quite some time now.
Bare with me here while I go through this.
Well, I was really bummy looking. I was in a beat up old wife beater shirt and some jeans. I did not have a t-shirt to put on but did not care because I was only going to go through a drive-thru anyway. Being that I didn’t have any nice clothes on, I looked at the floor and saw 2 sets of shoes. A nice white pair of Reeboks, and a pair of old lawn shoes I only wear when doing work outside. For some reason I decided to put the work shoes on. I never wear the work shoes, well I rarely wear them.
I go outside and get into my car and think, you know what, I am going take my time tonight and fill up the air in her tire so I can be ready to take it to the repair shop tomorrow. So I get out of my car, go inside and get her keys. I click the alarm and noticed it was not working which indicated the battery was dead. I have not started it since I parked it a month ago. Stupid me. I knew better. I didn’t know this but apparently there is a lock feature on Toyota’s that won’t let you take it out of park without any power. This meant I could not jump the car because the car was parked where I could not reach the battery and I could not roll it to my car because of the lock feature. Low and behold it started raining. Just my luck. I was about to say screw it and leave it because I was now more frustrated. I would have waited until the next day when it was not raining and dark and cold. But I was wearing my work shoes.
So I opened the gates to both sides of her house and was able to squeeze my car in the backyard allowing me to get the cars hood to hood and provide a jump. This all started out just because I had a flat tire that needed air so I could take it to the dealership the next day.
The car started up and I was able to drive it very slowly with a flat tire all the way to a gas station that I have never been to before. I wondered for a minute or two before leaving the house where the nearest gas station was with an air hose. The last 3 places I have been to the hoses were broken. Yea, I get flat tires a lot. Somehow I ended up at a new gas station. Now normally they are only fifty cents for air, but for some reason I grabbed 75 cents this time out of my car before leaving instead of the usual 50 cents. You guessed it; the pump was seventy five cents. If I did not grab the correct amount I would have left to search for another place to fill up the tire. So, I got out and started filling up the air, in the freaking rain. I get back into the car ready to go, and no power. Oh I am upset now. I just sat there for a second and laughed and said a small little “please lord” prayer. I get back out of my car to get the cables from her trunk and find someone to give me a jump when I saw a bunch of black folks causing a commotion. I heard a lady say “His car is on fire, someone help him.” Over about 15 feet from the gas pumps stood a black guy working underneath the hood of a blazing old Lincoln Continental. I mean a beat up, old piece of junk with flames shooting out about 4 feet high. I immediately walked in the store and grabbed the fire extinguisher on the wall while listening to the clerk say to someone else “Sorry, we do not have an extinguisher.” I just thought to myself, dummy and walked on by.
It was really weird though. I was walking so slowly and really calm. Almost like I knew what I was doing and what needed to be done. I didn’t run, I was so calm. I walked out of the store by this guy who was staring at me the whole time. He gave me a little nod like what a brave guy when I walked by. I slowly walked over to the car and told the man to stand back. It could have blown up. I could have died. He could have died. The gas pumps were right there also. Maybe he was crazy or something.
The entire carburetor had flames shooting out about 5 feet now. I was scared. This car had been burning for probably 3 minutes now. How many times on the tv show maximum exposure have I seen cars blow up from this kind of thing. And here I was standing five feet from a car made out of some serious metal. It was a huge, rusty piece of junk. So in all honesty, I was very afraid.
I pulled the pin and shot a fire extinguisher for the first time. It is as fun as it looks. It did not last as long as I hoped though. The fire did not go out all the way but it became really small just in time for the fire truck to show up. I walked away without a word, returned the extinguisher in the store and found someone to give me a jump. Nobody said a word to me. Almost like I was not there. It felt really weird, dreamlike. Then I sat in my car, and had the whole night of events just hit me like a wall of bricks.
Now, I was just going to get in my car and go to McDonalds. If that would have happened, what then? But I put on my junky shoes, had a dead car that I should have started a couple of times prior and knew that it needed to be started often, a flat tire, some stupid car shift locking feature, grabbed more money than I normally grab, and had a dead car again! All these things set me up to be at the gas station and stay there just in the right amount of time. What a miracle.
Somehow I got a chance to reflect on the things the devil tried to do and how God just made his will happen. A mountain wings moment.
It was not raining when I left the house. It started when I saw the car would not start. The fire extinguisher was right there and because the clerk did not care to even look, no one would have grabbed it. Damn devil tried everything to stop folks from doing good things. I can sit back and recount how many times I almost said screw it. But if I didn’t do all these little things, then something much worse might have happened. What a crazy experience.
So I ended up going to McDonalds and got some food afterwards. I also went to blockbuster and rented Crash. Now that movie makes you think. It was the perfect movie on top of my experience that I just had. It made me think how everything in this life is somehow tied together. It also made me think, what would Angie do if I got near that car and it blew up and I had died or whatever, like the lady in the crash near the end. The couple never even knew the 2 instances that happened to each other that day. They both could have died. That would have sucked. I love her and hope she never has to deal with that.
A strange series of events that all intertwine if you are open minded enough to as I say, "Recognize, Realize, and Analyze".
I think we all can find a character in that movie we can relate to a little. I related to the black detective who never lets people in to his mind and emotions. He puts up a shield because of his mothers' addiction to heroin. My mother may not be addicted to a drug as bad, but alcohol and pain pills are pretty bad. So I have a very similar problem as him. I do not let people in too close. I do not expose that much emotion because, well, I do not know why. I end up holding it in and letting it out when I am alone. What a movie.
