Ruby Hamilton, a businesswoman in her 50s, was stunned at the loss of her husband of 32 years in a car accident. She had become a follower of Christ in her late 20s, but her husband didn’t share her newfound interest in spiritual things. Nonetheless, she had set about praying for him feverishly and unceasingly that he would come to know the Lord. And one day when she was praying, she felt a wave of peace wash over her, and that still small voice assuring her that her husband would be okay. She eagerly awaited the day when her husband surrendered his life to Jesus. And now this.
What do you do when faith doesn’t make sense? When God doesn’t seem to be answering? Ruby Hamilton stopped living for God.
Roger Simmons was hitchhiking his way home. He would never forget the date—May 7. His heavy suitcase was making him tired and he was anxious to take off that army uniform once and for all. Flashing the thumb to the oncoming car, he lost hope when he saw it was a black, sleek new Cadillac. To his surprise, the car stopped.
The passenger door swung open. He ran toward the car, tossed his suitcase in the back and thanked the handsome, well-dressed man as he slid into the front seat.
“Going home for keeps?”
“Sure am.”
“Well, you’re in luck if you’re going to Chicago.”
“Not quite that far. Do you live in Chicago?”
“I have a business there,” the driver said. “My name is Hamilton.”
They chatted for a while, and then Roger, a Christian, felt a compulsion to share his faith with this 50-ish, apparently successful businessman. But he kept putting it off till he realized that he was now just 30 minutes from his home. It was now or never.
“Mr. Hamilton, I would like to talk to you about something very important.” Then he simply told Mr. Hamilton about the plan of salvation and ultimately asked him if he would like to receive Jesus as his savior and Lord.
The Cadillac pulled over to the side of the road. Roger expected that he was about to get thrown out of the car. Instead, the businessman bowed his head and received Christ, then thanked Roger: “This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.”
Five years went by. Roger married, had a couple of kids and a business of his own. Packing his suitcase for a trip to Chicago he found a small white business card that had been given to him by Hamilton five years previous. In Chicago, he looked up Hamilton Enterprises. The receptionist told him that it was impossible to see Mr. Hamilton, but he could see Mrs. Hamilton. A little confused, he was ushered into a beautiful office where he found himself facing a keen-eyed woman in her 50s. She extended her hand.
“You knew my husband?”
Roger told her about how Hamilton had picked him up while he was hitchhiking home after the war.
“Can you tell me what day that was?”
“Sure, it was May 7, five years ago, the day I was discharged from the Army.”
“Anything special about that day?” she asked.
He hesitated, not knowing if he should mention how he shared the message of Jesus with her husband.
“Mrs. Hamilton, I explained the gospel to your husband that day. He pulled over to the side of the road and wept against the steering wheel. He gave his life to Christ that day.”
Explosive sobs shook her body. Finally getting a grip on herself, she sobbed, “I had prayed for my husband’s salvation for years. I believed God would save him.”
“Where is your husband, Ruby?”
“He’s dead. He was in a car crash after he let you out of the car. He never got home. You see, I thought God had not kept his promise. I stopped living for God five years ago because I thought God had not kept his word!”
Galatians 6:9: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Matthew 7:7-8: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
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