Bible Text: Luke 17:15-16 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him–and he was a Samaritan. Luke 17:15-16
Steve Cadd hopped in a taxi in Manila and immediately struck up a conversation with the driver. Unlike some folks who never talk with taxi drivers, Steve, an outgoing extrovert, does the opposite. He talks, and more than that, gets them to talk to him, telling him about their lives and what they think. As he climbed into the taxi, Steve noticed verses of Scripture scotch-taped to the back of the seat where passengers could view them.
On this particular day they had barely begun to inch forward in the bumper-to-bumper congested traffic when the taxi driver began asking him about what would happen if he stood at the door of God’s heaven and knocked. Steve, stopped him, and said, “Look, I know where this is going, and I want you to know that I’m a Christian!” Then he asked the driver, “How did you come to faith in Jesus Christ.”
The driver began telling Steve what a mess his life had been, and that as the result of heartache and pain, he decided that he would take his life. He went home to the little shack where he lived in a squatter’s area, and took a gun and loaded it. He cocked the weapon, and stuck the barrel in his open mouth pointed to his brain, but before he pulled the trigger, something caught his attention.
It was the host of a Christian TV program saying, “There’s someone watching this program who is about to take his life. Right now he has the gun pointed in his mouth. Stop right now. God wants you to listen to Him. He’s got a purpose for your life. Don’t do it.”
Absolutely dumbfounded, with trembling hands, the man lowered the gun and began to sob. That day, he prayed to invite Jesus Christ to come into his life—something that forever changed the direction he was going and changed his outlook as well.
Steve then asked the question that I have asked scores of people who tell me they listen to Guidelines, “Have you ever written a letter to tell your story?” “No,” replied the fellow. Just never got around to it.”
Then it was Steve’s turn to tell his side of the story. He said, “What you do not know is that I was the director of that show!” Wow! What a coincidence. No, no really. God, at times, arranges things in ways that could only have been brought about by His intervention. Steve is a movie producer, a unique individual, who penetrates the culture answering the real questions of the heart. But often he never meets those whose lives have been impacted by the Holy Spirit. But he did that day.
God often uses people who may know nothing of what’s happening to throw up a roadblock, a wall which redirects us; yet there are times when God is prompting us to do something—make a phone call, write a letter, go visit someone who is on your heart. You may not know what the person is struggling with, but you may be the last one in God’s plan to wave a red flag, saying, “Don’t jump. Don’t give up. Don’t take your life.”
If you can identify with the Manila taxi driver who felt that life was no longer worth living, realize there is a God who loves you who sent His son to show you the way back home, and there are people who care about you. Get in touch with the radio station to which you are listening right now, or get in touch with our Guidelines office.
A closing thought: If you, like the taxi driver whose life was turned around, let someone know, it would bring joy to his heart.
Resource reading: Luke 17:12-19
