An Interesting Thing Happened to Me...

An interesting thing happened to me this week. I have most recently been engaged in a very busy and stressful season of life, however, I felt impressed to pray for my older brother, Steve, who lives in Arkansas. Even with so many things screaming for my attention, I was continually nudged in my spirit to pray for my brother. As I paid closer attention to the nudging, I heard the words "distraction & danger". Those words didn't mean anything to me, personally, so I knew it must have something to do with my brother, Steve. As a result, I carved out time to make a phone call in between my log-jammed schedule. As I talked with him, I told him what I was hearing in prayer and just wanted to check on him. He thanked me and said he, too, was extremely busy but everything was fine; nonetheless, I continued to pray for him. The next day I received a call from my brother Steve, and he unfolded this incredible story about what took place and his discovery later in the day after my phone call of concern. Before my call to him, he had cleaned out the ashes from his fireplace insert in order to make a new fire for the evening. He placed the ashes in a bucket on the back porch, as he usually does, and enjoyed time with his wife before retiring for bed. Later, in the night, they were awakened by the smell of smoke. He went outside to find the plastic bucket melted to the ground with the 2-day old ashes. After dousing it with water he went back to bed, only to be awakened by his wife several hours later saying, “I smell smoke again". My brother said, "It’s OK honey, I already took care of it and it’s just the lingering smell." Well, she didn't believe him and made him get up and check things again. Unable to find the cause, he made a more extensive examination and found that the bucket containing the ashes had heated up the metal kick plate at the bottom of the door so hot, it caught the wood on fire behind the kick plate. It had begun to spread along the side of the house and had melted the vinyl siding down the back of the house. If he hadn’t discovered it in time, the whole house would have gone up in smoke!! This put a new definition on "distraction & danger"! Although this sounds rather bizarre, a similar incident happened years before when my brother, Steve, called me after his normal early morning prayer time. He called saying he had great concern for my safety and asked if we were OK? He went on to describe how deeply troubled he felt in prayer for us and was actually feeling grief as if someone had died. I assured him everything was fine and that it may be a "prophetic prayer" for the something in the future; I thanked him for his sensitivity and concern. Well, later that day, a pastor friend and I took our children out 4 wheeling on the church property. My oldest son was around 2 ½ yrs old and sat in my lap as I drove the 4 wheeler—that was before laws were changed and dangers were discovered about 4 wheelers. We were having a blast climbing small hills and riding the terrain when all of sudden we hit a dip and the 4 wheeler flipped up in mid-air and threw both of us off! I can still remember watching the machine flying up in the air and landing inches from my son’s head! I could not believe it! It all happened so fast and we were being so careful. I rushed over to my son, grabbed him up in my arms, and began to thank God for his safety. He was still in a daze, scratched all over, with a gash in his chin, and bleeding. As we got in the car, rushing him to the hospital, and weeping and praying for my son Kimble II, it came to my memory, as I was holding my boy that my brother had called that very morning in a panic and concern for our safety. I truly believe that his prophetic intercession that day released God's angelic protection that saved my son's life. If that huge machine would have landed inches the other direction, it would have crushed his little skull. In the emergency room, we rightfully got a tongue lashing from the doctors as I was told how “lucky” we were that something more tragic didn’t happened. My son, Kimble’s scratches were cleaned and treated, and a butterfly bandaid was put on the gash on his chin without stitches. We were able to walk out of the ER that day, shaken but grateful to the Lord that he was alive. So, I encourage you to do as I do today, live life with a listening ear to the prodding of the Holy Spirit. It’s invaluable to not only have people in your life, but to be that person in others lives that know how to listen, pray, and act.