week 35

Scripture Reading:

GENESIS 19:12–29

In the Nick of Time

I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the LORD.

JEREMIAH 39:18

AS TAYLOR EVANS CLIMBED the thirty-foot utility pole with a damaged light fixture, two thoughts occurred to him. First, he hadn’t heard from his best friend, Aaron, in six months. And second, he no longer expected to.

He glanced at the storm clouds overhead and whispered a familiar prayer. Get me down safely, God.

As he continued his climb, images of Aaron came once more to his mind. They’d been closer than brothers in high school and played football and basketball together. Aaron had been good enough to win a football scholarship, but his grades were too low. So they both went to community college, where they could both play football and Aaron could hope for a scholarship.

The first season was going great until Aaron took a full-force blow to his knee and collapsed to the ground. His knee was destroyed. Several operations and a long rehabilitation followed, but his football days were over.

That was the beginning of the end, Taylor thought as he kept climbing the utility pole. He’d prayed for Aaron for years since then, rescued him when he was stone-drunk, taken him to counseling centers for his depression, and most of all told him about God.

But Aaron didn’t want to hear about answers. Instead he grew more distant from Taylor every year. Finally, that past spring, Aaron said, “Leave me alone, Taylor. We’re finished.” It appeared that his best friend was finally and completely out of his life.

Aaron Grant walked out of church and realized he had let losing football nearly cost him his soul.

Two months earlier, Aaron had been at a bar when his old coach approached him and asked how he was. Aaron was too drunk to respond coherently. The man who’d dreamed with him and believed in him had shrugged and walked away in disgust.

Aaron hit rock bottom. The next day he was seized with remorse for the way he’d treated his best friend. Hadn’t Taylor always been there? Hadn’t Taylor forced him through his rehab and run with him?

Aaron made a decision to change. He would get his act together, find out about this God that Taylor talked about so often, and walk away from alcohol altogether. Then, in a few months, he’d call Taylor and thank him for being the best friend anyone could ever have.

The next two months passed in a blur of intensity. He sought counseling for his depression and alcohol abuse and took a job working at the local supermarket. At night he started his college classes up again, and three times a week he attended church and Bible studies.

That afternoon, with storm clouds building overhead, Aaron knew it was time. As he drove across town, he was ten minutes from calling Taylor and making everything right again. He could hardly wait.

Perched at the top of the utility pole, Taylor knew the protocol: get down immediately in the case of an electrical storm. But he knew he had ten minutes at least, maybe fifteen. He wouldn’t be stupid.

He opened the glass fixture and saw the frayed wires. Taylor went right to work, all the while keeping one eye on the storm. Just three minutes, God.

At that instant his cell phone rang. His phone had one ring for personal calls and one with short staccato beeps for work emergencies. This ring was short staccato beeps. He thought about ignoring the call, but someone could be trapped or injured on a job site. He flipped his phone and barked a short hello.

Only a few garbled words sounded on the other end. His frustration doubled. This happened once in a while when the utility pole interfered with phone reception.

He began the arduous climb back down the pole. When he reached the bottom, he slipped inside his car to make the call. At that exact moment, Taylor felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up. Before he could blink, a bolt of lightning zapped the utility pole, slicing across the very spot where he had been working.

Seconds passed as Taylor stared at the smoking tip of the utility pole. He would have been dead instantly. Finally, as the shock began to wear off, Taylor closed his eyes. God, you saved me from certain death. Thank you… and thank you for whoever—

He hadn’t answered the emergency message. He checked the caller’s phone number, pressed the Send button, and waited.

On the third ring, Aaron Grant answered. “Hello?”

“Aaron?” Taylor’s mind was reeling.

“Taylor, you won’t believe it. I’ve changed. I had to call you and tell you so myself.”

Taylor gave a light shake of his head and tried to clear the cobwebs. Something wasn’t making sense here. “Did you call me on my emergency line?”

“No. Just your normal cell phone number.”

“That’s impossible.” Slowly the pieces fell into place. The ring had come through as an emergency by some God-directed miracle. How appropriate that God would use Aaron this way. “You know something, Aaron? I think you just saved my life.”

“No, man, that’s not it. I’m calling to thank you for saving mine. Hoping you’ll forgive me.”

“Tell you what.” Taylor slipped his keys into the ignition. “Let’s meet at the diner by the community college. You aren’t going to believe what just happened.”

Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash?

JOB 37:15