What usually happens when the hood of my car is raised is that somebody comes along asking for work. Painesville is the county seat, so it draws in quite a few hard luck cases. Watson Street seems to be a magnet. Tonight, while Jefferson and I were finishing the installation of a replacement headlight assembly, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Rick from Arkansas. I was just about finished with the installation when he walked up with a story and a need for work. What to do?

Hebrews 13:2 came to mind as I talked with the fellow. “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” My parents housed a few guests over the years with that verse in mind. But I have yet to figure out why an angel would smell like beer. But he seemed willing to work and I’ve been wanting to remove the alternator from the red Saab for a while. So, why not? Perhaps this would be another opportunity to speak to a man about the Lord Jesus Christ.

I sent him back to the red Saab with my tool box and eventually joined him when my job was finished. Just as I expected, he ran into the same problem I had. The long bolt on which the alternator pivots is longer than the space between the alternator bracket and the firewall. That was okay with me, it allowed me more time to speak about Christ. While Sharon was inside praying, the Lord enabled me to give a brief testimony of my conversion. When I spoke about finally understanding the truth, he asked what the truth was. What an invitation! The truth is that Jesus died for our sins and rose again (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Each individual needs to turn to God from his sins and believe Jesus (Acts 20:21).

All in all, I am glad that Rick stopped by tonight. Not only is that tricky alternator pulled, but another person got to hear the truth. Now in case you’re wondering, I’m fairly confident Rick wasn’t the angel mentioned in Hebrews 13. But I’m happy that the Lord sent him my way.