God revealed His awesome power to me in a simple dream that involved my friend Darrell, and a Volvo. Darrell did every thing he could to keep the dream from happening, and rightly so. Read to the end to find out the surprise ending.
Lynne and I had moved to the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado to attend the Nazarene Bible College. I had an ambition to preach, or a “call”, as they said in church circles. The type of preaching that I was to do was vague and unclear, but the call was very real.
God had put burning letters in my mind twice with the word “preach”. They were fiery and bright red, and they lingered in my mind for a long time, and I can still see them clearly even now more than 40 years later.On my first date with Lynne, she had shared that it was her deep desire to be involved in ministry, and she had dreamed of becoming a pastor’s wife. She was highly supportive of my ambition to preach, and many of the couples in her newly adopted home church in Dolton had moved to Colorado Springs on the eastern side of the Rockies to attend the Nazarene Bible College.
Nazarene Bible College was a unique educational institution. It was designed around the working student who had a call to preach later in life. After we moved there I located a job in a factory called Western Forge, which made Craftsmen hand tools for Sears. I had befriended a man there who had formerly been a missionary for the Navigators, and had been posted for several years in Costa Rica. His name was Darrell Thompson. We took our breaks together.
Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it.' ". Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" They replied, "The Lord needs it." They brought it to Jesus.
One night I had a dream that I was riding down a tree lined avenue in the front seat of Darrel’s green Volvo, with Darrel driving. In the dream, I turned to Darrel and asked, “Is $800 dollars o.k.?” He responded, “I guess.”
The next day, during my break with Darrell, I told him about the dream, and asked him if he was considering selling the Volvo. He said that he had posted it on the bulletin board at work, but he was asking $1200 for it, and had no intention of selling it for any less.
That really didn’t matter to me anyway, for I felt we had no need of a second car.
A few months later, Darrel moved to Salida, a town on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. During that time Lynne had become restless, for I was working overtime and attending Bible College, and we lived in a house over 20 miles out in the country, with no neighbors. It became apparent that we were going to need a second car.
At the same time, I had missed my friend Darrel, and was looking for an excuse to visit him, when I remembered his Volvo. Delighted to have a reason to call him, I quickly found out that he had given up on selling the Volvo, for he had not had a single inquiry since he had put it up for sale. He was thrilled at the thought of seeing us again, and invited us to stay for a week end.
We drove across the mountains to beautiful town of Salida, surrounded on all sides by mountains. Darrel and I took the Volvo out for a drive, catching up on news, and not really thinking about the car. As we were driving back to Darrel’s house, I realized we had not even discussed the Volvo. I brought the subject up.
I knew he wanted $1200 for it, but all we had saved by that point was $800 dollars. I apologized for the amount I was offering for the car, but asked him if he would consider selling it for $800. He sighed deeply, and said “I guess.” He then remarked that mine was the only offer to buy it that he had in all the time he tried to sell it.
We fell silent for a moment, and then I suddenly realized that we were driving down a tree line avenue exactly like the one in the dream! I had totally forgotten about the dream until that point.
We kept the car for a couple of years after that. Then the car started having things fall off, and I was alarmed to find out that all of the parts that needed to be replaced were very expensive, and included shipping charges from overseas. Lynne and I were thinking about selling the car, when a man approached me at work, the very same Western Forge where Darrel and I had previously shared breaks together.
He asked me if I was still interested in selling the Volvo. I said that I was thinking about it, but I had not posted it yet, so why did he think I was trying to sell it? He informed me that he had considered buying for some time after it was listed on the bulletin board. He was referring to the time Darrel had posted it. He had really liked the car, but had other things going on, and had never gotten around to buying it.
He said he was willing to give me the $1200 that was the asking price Darrel had originally asked for. I pointed out that several items were either broken or falling off. This didn’t alarm him in the least, for he worked part time at a Volvo dealer as a mechanic, and could get the parts at the dealer’s cost, with no shipping charges. We settled for $1150. It was the lowest I could get him, the buyer, to go.
I don’t worry about the future as much as I did when I was younger, for I know that God is in total control, and has intimate knowledge of the future, and the hearts of men. He knows about the future, because He is not like us, bound by the one way direction of time. He knows the future, because He is already there! The need that you have today, He has known about from the beginning! He has perfect communion with all of Himself, the future Omega and the beginning Alpha. He is indeed an awesome God!
Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." "Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked. He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there." They left and found things just as Jesus had told them.
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