Who is Bruce?
I don’t know about you, but I like to name cars whether its someone else’s or its mine. Bruce, is a 2008 pearl white Buick Lucerne, and my first paid off car. My grandpa found it for me during covid when it was nearly impossible to find a used car at a reasonable price. So my mom and I drove up to Illinois to pick the car up, and I knew immediately grandpa found me a keeper.
Within the first 2 minutes of driving the car I could tell it was a dude. I can’t tell you why, but I knew it was dude. As we were driving, my grandpa was showing my mom and I all the cool gadgets the car had. To give a little background, I had been driving a 2003 Nissan Altima with no A/C and defrost, with only 2 working windows, and only 2 working door handles. The Altima was named Sarah, and I loved driving her, however when I drove this Buick it felt like a million bucks.
I had previously watched a 007 James Bond movie, and all the fancy gadgets the car had gave me under cover spy vibes. Then the idea came to me, and the rest was history. My all time favorite super hero is Batman, hands down. Batman’s real name is Bruce Wayne, and he always has the coolest gadgets and the modern bells and whistles of the day. From that moment forward, that 2008 Buick Lucerne was named Bruce. I’m telling ya, Bruce and I are an unshakable team. With his heated seats and my DJ skills, we have a good time.
What’s the situation?
I like having a good time with naming cars and even talking to them like they are an actual person, however, sometimes used cars need repairs and Bruce is not exempt from that. To make a long story short, I was driving back home from football practice this past November, and I was hit by another car while stopped at a stop sign. No one was hurt, but Bruce’s whole front end was busted up. It was on the verge of being totaled or fixed by the insurance company. They ended up fixing Bruce, and all was well. However, I found out there was some damage that wasn’t repaired that needed to be. The alignment of the car was off tremendously and there were multiple parts that needed replaced. This also lead to my tires rubbing unevenly, and needing new tires. I had been able to get by with it while I was saving money for the repairs, but since transferring to MSU and commuting 30 miles one way, I’ve been nervous about driving it. I only had $600 saved up to pay for repairs that were being estimated at $600-$700 without talking about tires. I needed the lord to provide, because I wasn’t financially able to pay for it.
How the Lord provided
So, this past Monday, March 18th, I was in Springfield at Missouri States campus’s library. I was on my computer trying to knock out some homework, and I get this email. It was from the Missouri State financial department, and in the email an attachment. The attachment said within the next 2-3 business days $1,425 would be transferred into my bank account!
I was blown away…
I had been praying for God to provide a way to fix my car, because it was getting unsafe to drive and in this email he did. It took me a solid 2-3 minutes to truly realized what happened. I earnestly tried to figure out why the money was sent to me, and I was fixing to email the financial department for an explanation and then I stopped…
I stopped what I was doing, and just sat still. The Lord provided me the funds to fix my car.
I got the car fixed the Wednesday of that week, and the cost of everything that had to be done was over $1,700. I got four new tires, and my alignment issues and parts are working good as new. I would never have had the money to get the repairs needed, but God stepped in and said, “Here you go!”
What I learned from this
I learned first hand that there will be times in life where you’re not going to have the money to pay for something. That’s called life. However, if you choose to bring it to the Father, He provides.
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
I was in need, and the Lord supplied my need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Whenever you experience it for yourself, and experience Him saving the day, it just means more. When it comes to raising money for this summer trip to Brazil, paying tuition, finding a job, deciding what to do after graduation, what to do if my neck doesn’t get better, etc., I can look at all of these obstacles as sources of worry and of stress, or as opportunity’s for the Lord to show himself. He will supply every need of ours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. I believe that.
Encouragement
I was reading in Luke today, Luke 5:1-11. Its about Jesus calling his first disciples, Simon, James, and John.
The fishermen had been fishing all night not able to catch anything. Then this teacher, Jesus, starts to preach out of one of their boats. While in one of these boats he calls them to throw there nets out. They attested, “…master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down my nets.” (Verse 5). They throw them out and catch a ridiculous amount of fish. They catch so much fish that the nets break! Then it says in verse 8 and 9,” “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knee and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,”.
Simon Peter fell at the feet of Jesus, because of the astonishment of the number of fish they caught. Simon Peter realized he was in the presence of his Savior. For this to be possible though, the men needed to have experienced a night where they caught nothing. They needed to have experienced the lack of fish caught to truly feel the power of the miracle.
“…And let us run with perseverance the race marked our for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of Faith…” – Hebrews 12:1c-2
Sometimes in life we go through seasons where it feels like we are fishing all night, and not catching anything. You are applying for all of these new jobs, and none of them are working out. Your working through family drama, broken relationships, hurt, and healing seems impossible. You can’t get through to your kids about their inappropriate behavior without a big argument spiraling out of control. Anything really, any season where you feel like you’re trying and trying, and nothing seems to be working. God’s got a plan for you (Jeremiah 29:11), Gods gone before you and will be with you (Deuteronomy 31:8), and He will supply your every need (Philippians 4:19).
I serve a God, that with one breath, can turn your worst night of fishing to your best. One word from Him can change everything. I pray that he would give you a word today. A word of encouragement, of vision, of peace, of perseverance, or whatever you need in this moment.
Thank you for all the prayers,
Andrew
