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The Gallon of Milk
A young man had been to Wed. night Bible Study. The pastor had shared
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 service, he went
out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message.
Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways.
It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home.
Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, "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 and started on
toward home. But again, the thought, 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.
"Okay, God, in case that is 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 purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home.
As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, "Turn down that
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, "Okay, God, I will."
He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop.
He pulled over to the curb and looked round. He was in a semi-
commercial area of town. It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst
of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the
houses looked dark like the people were already in bed. Again, he
sensed something, "Go and give the milk to the people in the house
across the street."
The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the
people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open
the door and then sat back in the car seat. "Lord, this is insane. Those
people are in bed and asleep, and if I wake them up, they are 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. "Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I
will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person,
okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something, but if
they don't answer right away, I am 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?" Then the door opened
before the young man could get away. The man was standing there in
his jeans and t-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had
a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some
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. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk
toward the kitchen, the man following her, holding a baby. The baby
was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face. The man
began speaking and half-crying, "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." His wife in the kitchen yelled out, "I asked him to send
an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?" The young man reached into
his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the
man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears
were streaming down his face. He knew that God still answers prayers.
Contributed by Jim and Evelyn
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