God’s Breakdown Service
by John Berry
I wonder if you have noticed that so often God puts people in strategic places to help others out of their difficulties. I had a wonderful experience of that recently when, with a friend, I was driving a hired van full of furniture. I was just crossing a busy main dual carriageway at a set of traffic lights when the clutch ‘broke’ halfway across the road. Fortunately there was enough momentum and space to enable me to coast to the side of the road, where we investigated the problem and discovered we needed expert help.
We urgently prayed for God’s intervention and made a few phone calls. In no time at all I received a call from the vehicle assistance patrolman (part of a motoring organisation called the AA). He told me he was sitting in the café at the garage 100 metres behind us waiting for a call, and would be with us in 2 minutes! He duly arrived, did some temporary repairs to get us home, and followed us for some distance to make sure all was well. We were able to continue on our journey with a minimum delay and complete the tasks we had set out to do. Praise the Lord!
In Acts 8:26-27 the Ethiopian on his journey was in need of his own ‘spiritual patrolmen’ to come to his rescue as he struggled with a problem in understanding the Bible. But God had already arranged for Philip to be on that road and be in the right place at the right time. Philip was able to provide the Ethiopian with a permanent solution to his problem by telling him about Jesus. The man then went on his way rejoicing, (just as we did on our journey).
You may have been selected by God to be part of his AA (Angelic Assistance) to help out someone in need. God can use us within His purposes to rescue that person if we are ready to receive His call and to go in obedience in answer to it.
Prayer: Father God, thank You that You watch over us at all times, and are ready when we encounter a crisis. Thank You for all those people whom You have sent to help us in these times of need. Please enable us to be alert to Your call for us to go to the assistance of others when they are in difficulties. In Jesus’ Name we commit ourselves to Your purposes in this. Amen.
John Berry entered the Baptist Ministry more than 40 years ago, and joined the Team at Ellel Glyndley Manor in 2007 with his wife Jennie. They have both now retired from the team but remain as part of the Teaching and Associate Ministry Teams at Glyndley. John and Jennie have seven Grandchildren.
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