Oh Oh, Someone Is Going To Get It!

     I was on my way to have a cup of coffee with a friend, near Clio, Michigan, when I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a police car with the red light flashing. Oh oh, someone is going to get it! I thought and kept driving. I slowed down a little. I soon looked in the mirror again and saw the same police car, red light still flashing! Why doesn't he go around me, I wondered?
     Then...the thought came through my brain, in slow motion, that just maybe the car he was going after was mine! Oh, I slowed down and pulled over. So did the police car! 
     Oh no, it was me. I wondered what I had done wrong?! I put my window down as the officer came walking over. "Was I doing something wrong," I asked?
     "Do you know how fast you were driving?"
     "Well, no." I said. "Was I speeding?"
     "Yes, you were going 55 mph in a 35 mph zone."
     "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize it." I said apologetically. 
     After checking over my license and registration the officer asked, "Are you taking your dog to the vet?" 


     Our little Chihuahua, Pinto, had been lost in our woods for five days and had just found her way back home that morning. Not wanting to leave her home along I had put a little blanket on the seat beside me and she was lying there.


     "Well, no, I'm not taking her now but I may later," I said. Then I picked Pinto up and showed her little feet, cracked and bloody, from running through the woods trying to find her way home. I explained to the officer about her being lost. 
     "Oh, well, I'm not going to give you a ticket this time, only a warning. But please keep your mind on your driving and watch the speed limit." The officer even smiled at me!
     I was so relieved and said thank you, I'm not sure how many times. 
     I went on to my friend's house. I relayed this story to her over coffee and her immediate reply was, "It's a good thing it wasn't a black woman police officer! They are really tough!"
     "Oh, but it was! The officer was a black woman!" I blurted out! We both sat there in silence, mulling this over. 
     I wanted to write a letter thanking her, but I wasn't given a ticket so I had no record of her name. Because it was outside the city limits it would have been a sheriff's deputy. I ended up not doing anything to thank her. I have told the story many times so I hope I've somehow helped the reputation of the black women officers in the State of Michigan. 
     Today is Martin Luther King, Jr day. He is a man I admire so much, before his death and after. I thought it fitting to write this story today. 
     

Work at Home Mom

     When our children were small Jerry and I both agreed I should be a stay at home mom. With five children I had plenty of work to do right at home! As the children began to grow up I began to need more money just to keep up with school supplies and extra things teenagers wanted and sometimes needed. It just seemed there wasn't quite enough money to go around. 
     I began to pray about this. "Lord, You know I need more money. It's too hard with our children to say no to extras. I can't go out and get a job, that would be against what Jerry and I had decided on years ago. Isn't there some kind of a job I could do at home to make some extra money? I know that all things are possible with You."
     A couple of days after praying this prayer one of my neighbors called on the phone. She explained to me that since her youngest child was now in school all day she was going to go back to work in an office. Then she said, "I have to quit my home job...my boss asked me to recommend someone for it. I immediately thought of you!" 
     What was her home job? She called the substitute teachers for the secondary schools in our city and she did it from her kitchen!
     When Jerry came home I told him about it and he thought it sounded interesting. It would mean getting up early every morning. The time for teacher's to call was 6:00 to 6:30 AM and 3:00 to 4:00 PM. I was not a morning person! With determination I could do it!
     With the Lord's help I did do it. I was the substitute caller for about 13 years! What a wonderful and direct answer to my prayer! I was home every day so my children didn't come home to an empty house and we had that little bit of extra money needed for extras! 
     Sometimes when a teacher called me I would be a listener to a problem and I had the opportunity to say, "I'll be praying for you." I always received a surprised, "Thank you!" 
     Does God care about our small problems? Does He answer prayer? There is no doubt in my mind: Yes, God cares and God answers prayer.