When I lived in Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, one of my ministries was giving rides to random people who were brought into my every day activities by God. When my mom found out about this, she was really upset because she said it was dangerous. I told her, “Don’t worry, Mom. They’re always little old ladies.”

So, one wintery Monday evening in December, I realized that it was my turn to bring in a breakfast casserole for our Tuesday morning leaders’ group meeting at work. It had been snowing all day, so when I hopped in my car, it took me a little longer than usual to get to the grocery store. I zipped through all the isles, got my stuff, checked out, and headed for home. Once I got home and started unpacking the ingredients, I realized I’d forgotten the bacon. My boss loved bacon. I knew I really needed to go back to the store.

So, I drove back, ran in, grabbed the first pack of bacon (without even looking at the back side to see how meaty it was), went through the express line, and headed through the first set of automatic doors. You know the area where all the carts are? The area between the store and outside? Well, right before leaving this area, I saw an old fella out of the corner of my eye, and he was sitting next to the wall, with a totally full grocery cart. Full to almost overflowing.

I took another step, about to fly through the second set of automatic doors, when I felt God’s gentle hand on my chin. He turned my head to the right and I saw the old fella, and I knew. I knew God wanted me to ask him if he needed a ride. It was 10pm, a blizzardy night, and here was an old fella who looked like St. Nick himself -Full white beard, a black chapeau, and a rotund belly. Never before had God ever shown me a man who needed a ride. In all the years I’d been helping Him out, He always showed me either elderly or handicapped ladies. So when I saw this fella, and I knew what God wanted, I looked up, and I said to Him in my mind, “That’s a man.”

“I know.” He said.

I walked over to the fella, took a deep breath and said, “Excuse me sir, but do you need a ride?”

“Praise the Lord!!! Thank you, Jesus!” he exclaimed. “I just sat down here, wondering what I was gonna do. The pay phone is out of order, so I couldn’t call a cab, and I just asked Jesus, ‘How am I ever gonna get home with all these groceries?’ and then, BOOM! You answered my prayer! God is good, and fast, too!”

“Well, God has given me a rides ministry, so let’s get these things loaded up into my car, and I’ll get you home.”

On the way to his house, we talked about my church, and he told me he’d been diagnosed with throat cancer. He said he had had surgery, but they couldn’t get it all. He said he was mostly sad because he loved to sing and worship God, but he couldn’t even sing anymore. He said he lived with his sister, and she has a car, but she’s unwilling to let him drive it, even though she can’t see well enough to drive it herself.

Would you believe it? He started getting rides to my church, he got prayer there for his throat, and his sister gave him her car. A year later he was singing and worshipping God, and his throat was healed of cancer. WOW!!!!