Miracles

I love Colton Dixon’s song, Miracles.

How do miracles just happen like that

Happen like that, happen like that

You can say the stars aligned but

I know that it’s more than timing…

Miracles. I’ve experienced a lot of them in my lifetime. Some big, some small, but every one of them a gift from the hand of God.  My story, A Beautiful Day, featured in this month’s issue of The Lutheran Digest, is about one of them. I hope you enjoy it!

A Beautiful Day

I didn’t give it a second thought when the pick-up truck rolled into the car wash beside me. A long, cold winter had evolved into a muddy spring and my car, like everyone else’s, had reached the point of being embarrassing. In fact I’d been surprised, when I arrived on that mild April morning, to see that I was the only one there. I’d thought the car wash would be mobbed with people rinsing off road salt and scrubbing away mud. Another dirty vehicle in the lot was not out of the ordinary at all.

Except the man in the truck didn’t seem to be taking care of business.  He wasn’t washing or rinsing or even so much as tossing out a bag of trash. He was just sitting there, watching me vacuum.

My breath caught as I thought of a news story I’d read the summer before about  a woman assaulted at a car wash, her purse stolen. But that was at an all-night car wash, I told myself, in a much larger city than ours. I shot a nervous glance at my purse, sprawling open on the passenger seat across from me. Could something like that happen here, in our small city?

I didn’t dare look at the man again, but feeling the weight of his eyes on me, I realized how vulnerable I was. The car wash sat a good distance back from the busy main road. If something happened, no one would see a thing. My fears ran away with me and my heart started to pound until I felt light headed. The vacuum timed out, and still, I crouched there, clutching the nozzle.  A church hymn popped into my head, one  about God’s eye being on the sparrows, and I took comfort in knowing that the man’s eyes were not the only ones watching me.

God, I know you see me, I prayed. Maybe I’m being silly, but this man is making me afraid. If he means me any harm, please make him go away…

Sometimes God’s answers take time. But sometimes He steps in immediately and in the most astonishing ways. The prayer had scarcely left my lips when a third car pulled into the car wash. Not just any random car. A city police patrol car.

I was lightheaded again, but this time with relief. The officer got out of the car, whistling as he walked to the coin machine. He fed his dollars into the slot, and as his coins clinked down into the tray, the pick-up truck pulled through the wash bay and rumbled out of the lot.

I stared after it, utterly amazed.

Had the man meant me any harm? I will probably never know. All I know for sure is that I had never felt more loved or more protected than at that moment. I finally stood and replaced the vacuum hose in its cradle, the enormity of what had just happened still sinking in.

The police officer glanced over and gave me a smile.

“Beautiful day, today.”

I smiled back at him. A beautiful day, indeed.