Driving home from the restaurant, the young man prayed,
"God, if you still speak to people, speak to me. I will
listen. I will do my best to obey." As he drove down the
main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to
stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said
out loud, "God, is that you?" He didn't get a reply, so he
drove on toward home.
But again the thought came: Buy a
gallon of milk. The young man thought about Samuel and
how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little
Samuel ran to Eli. "OK, God, in case that's you, I will
buy the milk." It didn't seem like too hard a test of
obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and
bought a gallon of milk and started off toward home.
As he passed Seventh Street, something told him to turn
down the street. This is crazy, he thought and drove on
past the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn
down Seventh Street. At the next intersection, he turned
back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out
loud, "OK, God, I will." He drove several blocks, when
suddenly he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to
the curb and looked around. It wasn't the best, but it
wasn't the worst of neighborhoods either. All the
businesses were closed, and most of the houses looked dark.
He sensed something say, "Go and give the milk to the
people in the house across the street." The young man
looked at the house. No lights shone from its windows.
He started to open the door and then sat back in the car
seat. "Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep, and
if I wake them up, they're going to be mad, and I will
look stupid." Again, he felt like he should go and give
the milk. Finally, he opened the door, "OK, God, if this
is You, I will go to the door and give them the milk.
But if they don't answer right away, I'm out of here."
He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could
hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out,
"Who is it? What do you want?" The door opened before the
young man could get away. A man stood there in his jeans
and T-shirt. He had a strange look on his face, and he
didn't seem too happy to have a stranger standing on his doorstep.
"What is it?" The young man thrust out the gallon of milk.
"Here, I brought this to you." The man took the milk and
rushed down a hallway speaking loudly in Spanish. From
down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the
kitchen. The man was following her holding a crying baby.
With tears streaming down his face, he said, "We were just
praying. We had some big bills this month, and we ran out
of money. We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was just
praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk."
From the kitchen, his wife yelled out, "I ask Him to send
an angel with some. Are you an angel?" The young man
reached into his wallet, pulled out all the money he had
and placed it in the man's hand. He turned and walked
across the street toward his car, blinking back tears. He
knew that God still answers prayers.
A young man had been to Wednesday night Bible study, where
the pastor talked about listening to God and obeying the
Lord's voice. The young man couldn't help but wonder, does
God still speak to people? After the service he went out
with some friends for coffee and pie, and they discussed
the message. Several people told how God had led them in different ways.