THE CHECK THAT FLEW AWAY AND CAME BACK!

If I had not lived this episode in my life, I would probably have a difficult time swallowing all that I am about to tell you. But it did happen. And I did experience all of it. And it can never be taken away from me. And I will never let it go. I pray that in the telling, your belief in GOD will be strengthened.

A year ago, nearly to this day, I went through something that has completely changed my prayer life, my belief in GOD, and my ever awareness of HIS great interest in our lives. And it all began with an injury. 

I do paintless dent repair for some of the top dealerships in this area and have done this line of work for going on 8+ years. Because of the technique of repairing door dings I developed a catch in my right shoulder that was not extreme, but had become a nuisance more than anything.This had been going on for several years and one morning I asked GOD if He would remedy the situation so that I did not have to deal with it anymore. It has been a habit of mine for years to go to the gym early in the morning to workout and this particular morning was no different. As I was setting up to do some shoulder work, I had selected some 50# dumbbells to warm-up with and as I had moved the weight from the floor to a standing position with the weight at shoulder level, I proceeded to press the weight overhead. When I began the movement, I heard what sounded to me like a giant rubber band go TWANG in my right shoulder and lo and behold, I had absolutely no pain in the shoulder! It was a miracle! It felt so good that I pumped out 15 reps with no trouble whatsoever and racked the weight and walked back into position with some 70# dumbbells. This was fantastic! Talk about being in high standing with GOD! Now that's what I am talking about! This prayer thing was rocking!

As I finished my group of exercises for the shoulder area, something caught my eye in the mirror. Something was amiss. Houston......we have a problem. When you use a gym, they have mirrors everywhere. And they have a distinct purpose. To the inexperienced, it would seem that they have been placed there for all the narcissistic personalities walking around in their skimpy and sometimes alluring outfits, much to the delight of many of the opposite sex. But such is not the case. They are there so that the informed and intelligent participants can properly perform the different movements correctly, thereby reducing wasted effort and keeping injuries to a minimum. Unfortunately for me, the injury part got tossed out the window. As I looked at my torso, the something that was amiss was the fact that now, although I had zero pain in the right shoulder, my right bicep was sagging down toward my elbow. The loud TWANG that only I heard was caused by the tendon that ran from the bicep up into the proximal shoulder being severed as the shoulder realigned itself back into its proper place. Rats! My prayer had indeed been answered, but at a price. 

As it turned out, the manager of the gym, Paul Springer, is a longtime friend and in case anyone is interested, at one time held the world record totals for powerlifting for his weight division. Anyway, he was running buddies with one of the very best sports medicine physicians in the field by the name of Dr. Pfeiffer.  Paul pulled some strings for me, got me in to see the doctor, we made all the necessary arrangements and the only thing remaining was to get all the preliminary tests completed for the surgery. This all took place on April 12. We had a major hail storm happen April 16. I was in trouble big time. I make all my good money because of hail storms. It is what carries me through the rest of the year. Without these storms, things can get tight and real mean, real quick. Here I was, a major injury, no way to perform my work and no help in sight. It was looking like some real serious praying was in order. I found a technician in Indianapolis who was willing to come down to Texas and work in my shop by the name of Roger Ice. Roger was a blessing because had it not been for his assistance, I would had zero income for the year. Not a good thing.

On the particular day of the check flying episode, my darling bride had invited me to the attend the spring picnic put on by her employers. I had a three-wheeled motorcycle that I used for errands and this morning all that I had to get completed was deposit the checks, get my blood work submitted for the surgery and attend the picnic. This was on a Friday. At noon. Here in our fair city there is nothing quite as exciting as being caught up in all the traffic for the Friday lunch crowd. Is it the same where you live? And to add to all of the traffic congestion we had a cold front come through at a pace of 35-40 mph. With a landscape as flat as a sheet of paper, anything not pinned down was making itself airborne. I may seem to be overly descriptive here, but without the proper setting painted for you, the overall impact of my story will be surely missed.

I went down my checklist of all I needed to load up before getting on the highway and determined that I had everything covered. Boy, was I in for a shocker. As I entered the traffic, I quickly assumed not-get-run-over speed and as I topped the overpass I felt something hit my chest with a frrrp! sound and wondered what in the world that could have been. I quickly glanced down at the tank bag to see it wide open and the checks all flapping around! I knew then what that frrrp noise was. Some of the checks had exited the bag due to my negligence! Now we are talking of thousands of dollars in checks here folks, not a couple of checks totaling a few hundred of dollars. THOUSANDS!!! I lost it right there! My closest exit was one mile down the road, I was moving at 65+mph, the wind was blowing at 35-40mph and I could not see how many checks were gone! I had zero hesitation in calling out to GOD. Fact is, I was literally screaming at the top of my lungs, inside my motorcycle helmet "GOD, help me....I cannot handle all this....I need you right now!" Pride was no where to be found.

When I did finally manage to arrive at the exit, the only thing I could think of was, please GOD, let this not be as bad as it could be. I entered a residential area, stopped the scooter, opened the bag to see what was actually missing and found much to my relief that only one check was missing. And I knew which one it was. I cannot tell you how relieved I was as I quickly thanked GOD for there only being one check out of place. Now all I had to do was contact the customer, ask to put a stop payment on the check, and offer to pay the penalty. However, that was not what GOD had in mind. I have found that HE takes great joy in letting us know that HE is the one that answers prayer and no one else. That is how great HIS love for us is. It is in those moments of desperation, with no one else to turn to that we find ourselves in awe of HIS control.

As I considered the solution I came up with, I heard this voice say, "Go back". Go back? You have got to be kidding! But I immediately did what the voice told me to do and here we went, back to the scene of the hi-ho check away! I was negotiating my way through a part of town that was apparently designed by someone from Dallas. All of the streets in this area were curvey with cul-de-sacs and stop signs on every corner. And to make things even more interesting I was stuck behind a lady driving a shiny, new, beige Escalade with apparently no where to go, chatting on her cell phone to her buds, oblivious to all my attempts to get around her. When I did finally manage to exit the area onto the closest main thoroughfare, I found the vehicles to be backed up all the way to the next traffic light. As I reconsidered my solution to my problem, I again heard the voice say, "go back". You would think by now that I would not question the directions, but alas, I am human.

The traffic in front of me slowly moved forward to the point that an access to a large parking lot came about and the voice told me to use it to get closer to the exit point of the check. I followed through the lot only to find another bumper-to-bumper inching along caravan of luncheonettes. The wind was still picking things up and carrying it wherever it wanted, the traffic was not going anywhere quickly and I was trying to catch up with what was happening to me. I eventually moved forward to the point that another parking lot entry became available and as I began my maneuver to enter it, trash around me became airborne. However, one particular piece from across the street caught my eye and as it flitted here and there I became totally focused on it. I moved into the entry point of the parking lot across from me on my scooter and I watched in amazement as the piece of paper that caught my eye earlier came to rest directly under my front wheel of my scooter. It was pinned there and no matter what the wind was able to muster up, it could not be moved. I got off my bike and slowly backed the wheel off of the paper. There it was. The exact check, that 20 minutes earlier had flown out of the bag and approximately 1-2 miles of getting back to the location all against the normal flow of traffic, was now in my hands. Dimples from having been pinned to the ground from my tire were all over it, but it was the same check. 

I am sure that the people in the cars in line to get their favorite double-chubbie-chuck or their mexicali chili bar (any Graffti fans out there?) were asking one another, "would you get a load of this ding-dong dancing around in the parking lot with his motorcycle helmet on. What a goober." You had to be on the inside of me to really understand the euphoria I was experiencing. Words can't do it. I told GOD that I was going to tell everyone and anyone who would listen about how great HE is. And I have kept and am going to continue to keep that promise. I told the people at the bank about it. I was so loud that everyone including the people in the back heard me. I told the people at the medical testing center. I told the people at my church where I get the great privilege to teach, about it as well.

To my amazement, to this day, there are people who come up to me and ask if I am the one that experienced the come home again check. How they got wind of the story is sometimes a mystery to me. And everytime my eyes get swollen with tears as I tell the story. I never get tired of telling how great my GOD is and how much HE cares for me. In the telling of this magnificent miracle, I see hope come alive in the eyes of those hearing the story. I saw first hand how quickly HE can answer. I also have learned to not be ashamed to call upon HIM. It does not really matter who you are or where you may find yourself in your time of crying out. Just cry out. And if need be, cry loudly. A sincere call to HIM is what HE is looking to hear. Not long winded prayers. Or memorized scripture. Just one of HIS children calling out for HIM. You will be surprised as to how important you are to HIM.

I have managed to get a copy of that check. Seems the banks have certain guidelines and laws that they must adhere to, so I have not been able to get my hands on the original. But I still have the copy. And I still am amazed at the speed which everything took place. There really was no time to think about it all. There was only the hearing and the doing. Everything else was out of my control. What are the odds of this happening again? One in ten billion? Ten trillion? You tell me. I dare anyone, anywhere to prove that it was not by HIS hand that it all took place. Go ahead. Give it a shot. You can't do it. I know and now you know that it was indeed a miracle. This is my story. And I get the great privilege to be the storyteller. What an honor. What a GOD!