September 19, 2011

Today I thought I would tell you about something that happened to us about a month ago. I live in a tiny little town of 250 people where everyone knows everyone or at least about everyone and who lives where, etc. It was a Sun. evening and my husband and I went for a walk around town about 9 PM. We were going through “downtown” which really consists of one street with the grain elevators and related items on one side and a city building and post office on the other. It was almost dark but, of course, there are steet lights “downtown.” There was a little kitten chasing bugs under the street light and following us off and on. The kitten meowed like a kitten would. We walked about another half block and both my husband and I heard a cry. We both thought it was just the kitten at first and kept walking until we heard it again and it sounded very much like a child crying. As I said before, we know who lives where in our town and because of that we knew no small children lived nearby. We both immediately turned around and started walking. Not a block away was a pick-up parked. We had walked right by it and I hadn’t even notice it. Inside, though it was dark and we couldn’t see, we knew a child was crying. We went up to the driver’s window and there was a little boy about eight years old crying his eyes out. It is a long and complicated story but the short version is he was left there by his uncle with a lot of uncertainty as to when he would be back, etc. He was not from our town and had not ever been there before although his uncle lived in a nearby town. We were able to get a hold of his father by cell. He lived at least thirty minutes away so we left a note for the uncle and took “Derek” home with us. He was so sweet and so clever and thankful! He told us he had been praying and praying and we told him God must have sent us! When he got to our house I immediately thought of “FLITTY, TWITTY, AND ITTY BITTY with it’s lesson about God seeing a little birdie fall and His greater concern for our welfare. We sat down and read it together. As I said he was so sweet and could identify with Itty Bitty. After that he played until his father, the police, and his uncle arrived. It was quite a night. I gave him a book when we sent him on his way. To be fair to the father, he was appalled at his brother’s (the uncle) actions. God certainly was watching over “Derek” that night.

“Not one little bird falls to the ground without your Heavenly Father knowing all about it. So why should you be afraid? You are even more valuable to God than birdies.” Matthew 10:29,31