Dear Journal,
How wonderful is our God that He looked over me in a keenly manner at every steps I make. Today was an exhausting day. Let’s just put it this way, I woke up a couple of minutes ago (11:30pm) from the carpeted-floor of my bedroom with my junior sized guitar by my side. The last thing that I can recall doing was getting out of the shower, and at around 6PM, I was practicing my guitar, and suddenly, poof. I was in the land of the dead. No, seriously, Jesus addressed the dead Lazarus as being asleep. So technically, sleeping is being in a state of the dead. Get it? You can look it up yourself, John 11:11.
To make a long story short, and this is a short version (long version would take 24 hours to read), I did my devotional this morning, went to work, turned on the company’s van (Blue 2), and heard a noise that is different than what it has always been like. Checked the oil, everything seems ok. We (myself, a supporting staff named Dicky Waworundeng, and a client) prayed prior of leaving the parking lot to pick up four other clients who lived in three separate cities, Lakewood, Denver, and Arvada. After the long drive for pick up, the first activity in the list is Denver Botanical Gardens at York St. in Denver.
Personally, I love this place. Just don’t tell anyone about it. As we make our way through gazillion plants, I’m over-exaggerating, or maybe not, because there were lots of plants there. We saw plants from different nations, even to the old kingdom of Solomon, which I am referring to Matthew 6:25-34 of the lilies of the field that were arrayed more beautiful than Solomon and all his glory.
Our first look was the Bonsais family. These trees were finely shaped in such a way to show the artistic view of a loving Creator on a small tree. We saw roses, and its thorns and thistles, signifying to me that away from the thorns and thistles of this creation, there is beauty where I can behold the love of God. I can say the same to the beautiful varieties of cacti that we passed. From close, the thorns of these cacti are as sharp as the kitchen knives, ready to pierce through any flesh that ignored its existence, however, as I stepped back to have a second look, I can see how beautiful this organism is.
I wonder if that is how God look at me. I mean, He is so close to me that He is able to see my thorns and thistles, which daily nailed Him on the cross through my transgressions. Yet, as He is nailed on that cross, all He saw was a beautiful creature worth of saving. We saw tulips, herbs, and even varieties of sunflowers that stood in such a way without a thick bark that supported its heavy head. I mean, this flower has its stem that can stand up tall from three to 12 feet high holding its head that has a width of, three to six inches and at times one foot long. And did you know that in each sunflower holds hundreds of flowers on its head? And yet, God cared over these plants, and what about you and I who have such a big head? Amazing…
However, through our journey in the Denver Botanical Garden, I cannot stop to wonder of the beautiful lilies that freely floating on the water. It is one of the most beautiful flowers that brought me to my knees of the grandeur of God’s love in His care of the lilies' shape, texture, anatomy, and even its beauty that captivated any man.
I have an inadequate knowledge of plants. However, the beauty of God’s nature cannot hold still the heart of man from the attraction of the heart of a loving God. How can we deny of an existing loving God? From these plants, how can there be such a God who rules in tyranny as others have presented Him to be? This thought brought me to my knees to know that each second of my life, this same loving God, who cares for the flowers and the trees, is at work in creating creatures that are beautiful in His sight to shape us according to His image. Wow...
At around 2:20pm, we have finished dropping our clients off to their respective home in Arvada, Lakewood and the last two clients in Denver according to the required drop-off time of each client’s provider. The three of us, two staffs and one more client, headed back to the office. The van at this time has not given out any signs of problem other than the low fuel light on the gauge. As we drive closer to University Blvd on a busy Interstate-25, I felt a pop underneath the van, so my mind quickly went to the Lord to ask for His guidance and His help. The van started to shake, I thought one of the tires have popped, but the van was still manageable, the van suddenly swerved to the left and quickly to the right, and as I tried to hold control of the van, the oil light on the dash gauge turned on, and within seconds, the engine light turned on. The van started to shake uncontrollably and I find myself no longer able to drive at a regular speed forcing me to take the far right lane away from the busyness of the interstate to inspect the engine.
I turned off the engine, opened the hood, no smoke. I quickly glanced to the right side of the engine compartment, my left, to see the water level and it does not indicate of any carburetor or heat problem. I knew that from driving the van that it was not a transmission problem, but I took out the dipstick of the transmission oil, and found it was within normal limit. I then take the oil dipstick to see the level of the oil and I found residue of the engine on the dipstick. I cleaned it, re-checked it, and found that the level of the oil was empty. I opened the oil cap of the engine, and noted a crack inside the engine. I quickly thought, “It must have been the manifold or something in the engine that broke apart”. I asked my support staff to check for any extra bottle of oil on the back of the car, but no oil. To make the matter worst, our client came out of the car and asked, “Can I go to the bathroom on the side of the road?” I raised my eyebrows wanting to say, "What?", instead, I quickly asked him if he can hold it for a couple of minutes as we drive the van to the closest gas station.
So in my heart, I prayed to God to watch over us and to guide my thoughts. So we load up the van, and text-ed a friend of mine to lift our van as well as the passengers in prayer. I started the van and with the van shaking and rattling, we were able to get the van to the nearest gas station. At this time, my first priority was to bring our last client back to the office for his dentist’s appointment. So, I called the office to see if we can get a way to have the client picked up. But there were no one to do that. Our boss was busy, our supervisor was out in a meeting, and other staffs were en route to drop their clients home. So with hundred things running through my mind, I managed to buy two bottles of 5W-30 oil, filled some gas, and with hazard lights flashing, we were en route again back to the office. This time, we avoided the interstate.
As slow as we can, we got back on University Blvd., headed south to Evans Ave., and east to the office. The van shook and was making a rattling sound, and throughout our drive, my mind was in constant prayer with the Lord. About five miles away, passed Monaco Pkwy., the car made another pop sound and the engine finally stopped completely. That was it for us, I went out, opened the hood, and first thing noted that it was smoking a white smoke outside and inside the hood. Looked down underneath the engine we saw black oil spewing like a waterfall. On Evans Ave. at around that time, it was busy with cars that were perhaps heading to work for the second shift of the day. I traced the spewing oil and found a part of the engine on the street. I took it, and looked at it, it was part of a rod inside the engine that holds one of the pistons. It looked like the rod was broken-off. And yes, when I was holding it, it was super-hot.
There was a K-Mart closed by, and we had to get the van parked away from the busy street to prevent a further incident of any accident.
If anyone have driven on Evans Ave. heading east passed Monaco Pkwy., there is a slight inclination on the road. So, to let nature takes it course, I placed the car in neutral, and when the road was clear, I let the car roll back and finally parked in K-Mart’s parking lot.
As I stood in front of that van, I took a step back and wonder, there was no way that this is not a miracle of God. I saw cars zoomed inches away from me, they could have hit me or even the car, yet, the hand of God was there to protect me. Even the thought of the incident happening after the day program was a miracle in itself. I knew God keenly took the time to show me His love and His mercy through a part of the "growing with Him" experience.
My boss took the time to come and drive one of the working vans to pick us up. And to make a very long short, shorter, we got to the office at around 3:40PM safely. I took the two clients from the office to my car to take them home, and sure enough, my key was locked inside my car. Again, I quickly lift a prayer to heaven to give me heavenly wisdom and guidance. The clients were already complaining that they have to be at their respected drop-off site at 4pm, so having this issue causes a great stress. But I knew that God was in control. He took my attention to note that the windows of the car were slightly open. But I noticed that it would be impossible to find a hanger or some kind of device long enough to open my door without being over an hour late to their drop-off. Locksmith you asked? I didn’t have the money to call for one, and the wait usually takes 3-4 hours long.
So God took my attention to the front of the car, and I saw the wiper blades. I took one of it off and through the opening of the window, I slide it in and within a minute, the car door was unlocked. We hastily filled the car, and made our ways to the drop-off points. and by the grace and mercy of God, I am home safely. Praise the Lord.
Why am I even took the time to write this? Simply to show the never ending love of God in my life. Never before have I experienced anything like this. Yet, through this blog, I can come back in the future to see the amazing, unfaltering, and unfailing care and love of a God for a sinner such as I and even to any readers out there. Have you given your life to Him?
May you gain blessings through this experience. Because I have. And if you are perplexed in the God that we serve and perhaps there’s a desire in you in wanting to know Him better, give me a call at (786) 546-6269, or you can contact me at a.f.lolowang@gmail.com for a Bible study of the living God we serve. I am an imperfect being, however, I know of a loving God who has a desire to make imperfect beings perfect.
