I've heard it said from the pulpit many times that God will get His tithes one way or the other. Either you voluntarily give it, or your car will break down....or your water heater will burst....or the price of oil for the furnace will be ridiculously expensive, etc.....I am a faithful tither, and although I am by no means wealthy, I get by....the bills manage to get paid every month despite my starting a new job and taking a pay cut. All that leads up to the events of my weekend. I let my newly licensed 17 year old daughter (Clarke) use my 2004 Expedition on Saturday night. I know....too much truck for such a young girl, but she's actually not that bad of a driver. Anyway, when I went to use the truck Sunday morning, it wasn't driving properly. Turns out that it was stuck in 4x4 low. I'm not sure what that means, but it sounded like an airplane, it wouldn't go over 60 mph, and the tachometer was on 4 at every speed. She insisted that she didn't do anything to it, but again, she had it last. I was further annoyed because I had just paid $1700 to get it repaired bumper to bumper. I managed to drive it on Sunday. One of my stops was to the grocery store where both my teens work. I took my 16 year old son (Quentin) to work and decided to pick up a few items. I always go to their lines if they are working a cash register, so I was in his line behind a friend of his and his family. They had a cart full of groceries and Quentin was messing around with them. A new manager who apparently didn't know who I was opened up the next register and invited me over. I didn't want to go (I wanted my receipt to say "Hi! I'm Quentin!") but I went anyway. He couldn't get the register opened. I gathered up my items and put them back into my cart and we went another register over. That one didn't work either. We went to the next register and he couldn't get it out of training mode. Another manager who knows me came over as well as a supervisor. The register just wouldn't work for them. All the while, the new manager kept apologizing to me. I told him that it was OK, because I'm not a trouble maker, but more relevant is that Quentin was still messing around with his friend and his family. Finally, he decided to pack up my groceries and give them to me for FREE!!!! Again.....had I stayed in Quentin's line, I would have still been in line. As it happened, I got out earlier and without having to spend a dime. I only had $12 worth of groceries, but that is $12 that I now have to myself!!!! To God be the praises!!!!! On Monday morning, I took my truck to the mechanic to see what was wrong with it. I thought he could fix it on the spot, but he said I would have to leave it. He told me that it needed some part or other that sounded really expensive. I called my girlfriend to drive me to pick up a rental car when I thought to ask her if I could borrow hers for the day. She was going to work, and I wasn't so what's the harm??? She agreed....another $60 saved. When I called to check on the truck, my mechanic told me that he called a friend of his who told him that there is an engine that controls the 4 wheel drive and it sometimes gets stuck. Put it on the lift and whack it with a hammer once or twice. It took one hit to get it unjammed, and I'm driving around with no problems. I asked him what the damage was, and he told me nothing!!!!! I love my mechanic, but that is an entry for another day. So....in the span of 24 hours, God blessed me in ways that I could not have even imagined when I woke up that day. He is a good God, merciful and full of grace. If you don't believe me, try Him for yourself!!!