“What if your mercies come through raindrops.” That’s a question Laura Story asks in her popular song, “Blessings.” Sometimes God’s blessings take on unique forms. I was out driving the other night, in the pouring rain, and my car quit working. Stopped. Died in the middle of the road. As I was getting in touch with AAA, a kind Good Samaritan stopped and helped me get the car off the road and also managed to help get it started again. Then, he followed me while I drove it down to a local auto repair shop. As I was pulling in, it died again. The nice guy proceeded to take me home.
A number of things went wrong. But so many more could have. My family could have been in the car with me when it died, but they weren’t. It could have locked up on me while on the interstate, very likely causing an accident, but it didn’t. It could have happened hours away from home on a trip, but it happened only minutes away. A car could have been right behind me when my car cut off, causing a wreck, but no one was there immediately behind me. The passerby who helped me could have passed on by, but he stopped. The car could have quit on me again in the road rather than the repair shop, but it got me just there.
Turns out, I got a little wet in the rain and the Good Samaritan got home a bit later than usual. And the car? A battery bracket worked loose and shorted the battery out. What I was thinking could be a rather extensive and expensive repair only ended up requiring a tightened bolt and a new battery.
It occurred to me: if my car hadn’t quit, I never would have realized all those bad outcomes that could have happened or experienced the good ones that did. “Mercy raindrops”? God sends those. Dead car deliverances? God’s in that business too. He’s also been known to tamper with battery brackets. Keep your eyes open. God may just send you your very own, specially designed strange blessing. And if he does, why don’t you thank him for it.