Chapter 16 - No Worms!

“A bishop then must be blameless . . . given to

hospitality, . . . For they that have used the office of
deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree,
and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ
Jesus.”

—1 Timothy 3:2, 13

Once hearing that if you want worms for fishing,

you should drive a stick into rich brown soil
and then tap that stick with another stick. The vibration,
I was told, would cause worms to actually
come up out of the ground. I did not know whether
this would actually work, but I had always wanted
to try it. The opportunity soon presented itself.
    We had arrived at a local church between
Beaumont and Nederland, Texas, to present our
ministry and we were to stay with one of the deacons
that Saturday night. After settling in at his
house, we went out to eat with the deacon and his
family, and the pastor and his family. We enjoyed a
nice meal together, and in the course of the conversation,
I mentioned what I had heard about worms.
The pastor agreed to meet us at the deacon’s house
at eleven that evening to try it out.
    At the appointed hour, the deacon, the pastor,
and I went into the backyard and set the experiment
into motion. I tried it for a few seconds, and guess
what? It did not work! I tried it again, but still no
worms. Maybe we should get a jackhammer, I facetiously
thought. I sure was glad we were not going
fishing that night and I concluded that what I had
heard was wrong. Or, I thought, Maybe there are no
worms in this ground!
    After a while, the pastor laughed and said, “I
cannot believe I came out here in the middle of the
night to watch you try to get worms out of the ground
by beating two sticks together. I’m going home and
will see you in the morning.” With that, he left.
    The next morning we headed for the church. I
showed our slides and shared about our ministry to
Ivory Coast. At the eleven o’clock service, I gave a
short testimony and then preached a short message,
whereupon the pastor closed the service. The pastor
and his family took us out for a mouth watering
meal, gave us a love offering, and then said, “If you
need anything, give us a call.” We said our fare
wells and thanked him and his wife for giving us
the opportunity to present our ministry.
    We were off to Beaumont to visit with Linda’s
sister, Suzette. We visited for a while and went to
church with her that evening. After the service we
headed to a supermarket to buy some fruit for the
drive home. As we loaded into our van to leave the
store, however, the van would not start and was
backfiring. To me it sounded as if the timing chain
had broken.
    It was growing dark, and I considered our next
move. The pastor had told me to call if we needed
anything, so I did. I explained our situation to him.
“Pastor, we have a minor problem with our van.”
    The pastor quickly replied, “I meant what I said.
Tell me where you are so I can send a tow truck to
get you. You can stay with the deacon again tonight.
He has a son who is a mechanic and works at an
auto parts company. He will help you fix your van,
and the church will take care of the bill.” Now that
is what I call meaning what you say!
    The tow truck arrived and towed the van back
to the deacon’s house. The next morning the deacon’s
son came by and told me that the problem was
indeed the timing chain. He instructed me to make
certain advance preparations for him, and that evening
we installed the timing chain. As we worked,
the pastor came by to check our progress. He asked,
“Is there anything else that needs to be fixed on your
van?”
    “Yes there is, sir. The exhaust is bad, and the air
conditioner needs a compressor.”
    The pastor then asked the deacon’s son to get
the parts and help me with the repairs; the church,
would pay for that also. I marveled at his generosity
and the great blessing he was to us. It took another
day, but in the end we had the timing chain installed,
a new exhaust system, a compressor for the air conditioner,
and several other parts. Everything worked
like new.
    We were as happy as could be with our van now
in such good shape to travel. We spent another night
with the deacon. The next morning the pastor came
by as we were preparing to leave. We thanked him,
the deacon, and the deacon’s son for all their help
and offered to pay them something, but they would
not hear of it. We said our good-byes, and the Ayers
family was off again, enjoying our smoothly operating
van—and especially the cool air-conditioning.
    Isn't it amazing how God puts you in the right place
at the right time amongst the right people!

(Copyright by Jay B Ayers)