The Man MinuteSample

SMALL THINGS

Not long ago I was on a personal retreat—planning, praying, and just spending personal time with God. I figured that if I went to Bozeman, Montana, I’d be in the mountains—literally closer to God—and thus my spiritual reception would be stronger. I remember getting up one morning, sitting on the steps of the cabin and enjoying the view of the mountains, and praying something like this: “God, don’t let me miss You in the small things today.” I had no idea what that prayer was about to do to me, in me, and around me. I soon found out. It started with the owner of River’s Edge Fly Shop spending an incredible amount of time with me, showing me some of his hot spots on the local rivers. It continued as a girl at a coffee shop—who seemed to be energized by helping others, even someone buying a single cup of coffee—treated me like a true friend. After spending some time planning and looking into my ministry work, I was on my way to get dinner at a local dive in Bozeman. It was then that I hit a time warp that has messed with my brain to this day. I had run out of gas just once, and that was in high school. Once was enough, for I learned that living on the edge of a thin tank wasn’t worth the hassle. My own vehicle is a Toyota Tundra, and when its low fuel warning light comes on, I know I have about 40 miles left. That wasn’t the case with the truck I’d rented. Apparently, when the gas light came on in that vehicle, it was its way of saying, “Life is about to get painful for you if you don’t find a gas station in 47 seconds.” Within 10 minutes of running out of fuel, I was in a car headed to a gas station. It was driven by a husband and wife—the Reids—who treated me as if I were their grandson in need of help as they helped me get back on the road. When I finally got to a local restaurant, I found it was going to close in about 30 minutes. My food came fairly fast, but I basically had the place to myself. Ross, one of the attendants, approached me and asked, “What kind of music do you like?” For some reason, at that moment I chose to say, “Classic country.” He immediately changed the background music to classic country, and out came Waylon over the speakers. “You didn’t have to do that,” I said. “Well, why not?” he answered, and we entered into a long conversation about how rare it is to see businesses do the small things for people nowadays. I felt the encouragement of God surrounding me so thick that I could almost breathe it in, and just then I remembered that I had asked God to keep me from missing Him in the small things that day. I couldn’t help but wonder how many days I’d had just like this one, when so many things went my way, yet I simply couldn’t see it. . .because I wasn’t looking.