Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.
(1 John 4.11
NRSV)
Tony knew that it was his duty to earn some money for his family, but at the same time he wanted to stay in school, get good grades, and go to college. He figured out that he could buy unsold loaves of bread that truck drivers returned to the Bond Bread Company located at Fifty sixth and Market Streets. He could buy the bread for a nickel a loaf and sell it for a quarter a loaf to restaurants throughout West Philadelphia. The transaction promised a hefty profit, but there were a couple of problems. He could not pick up the bread until after 9:00 p.m., and the only means he had for delivering the bread was by piling in on a wagon that he pulled behind his bike.
One dark, cold, rainy night at about a quarter till eleven Tony was making a delivery. Unfortunately he rode his bike over a pothole. Suddenly there was a BANG! His front tire blew out. He pulled the bike off the street and sat down on the curb. After a while he started to cry. He remembers crying hard and long. He was soaked, shivering, and completely discouraged. It was a lonely side street. There was no one to hear him when he cried out loud, "God, you're mean. Everybody else thinks you're kind. But I know you're mean. If you were kind you'd help me."
He cried for a few minutes more, then, for reasons that he will never figure out, he got up and pushed his bike and his load of bread to the service station down the street. The station was closed for the night. Nevertheless, he pushed his bike over to the air pump and tried to put air into the blown out tire. It never occurred to him how unusual it was that the air pump of this closed service station was still working. He was in such a state of brokenness and sadness that he did what he did in a daze. Needless to say the air came out of the tear in the blown out tire as quickly as he pumped it in. He says he doesn't know what he was expecting. But trembling and crying, he just stayed there in the dark carrying out a hopeless task.
Then the miracle happened! Suddenly he realized that the tire was hard. Somehow and in some way that is impossible to explain, the tire was holding air. He stood up, confused and happy. He remembers yelling out loud, "Oh, thank you! Oh, thank you!" He made two more deliveries and then rode the bike three miles back to his house. And the tire held!
When he got home he lifted the bike onto his front porch and locked it. The time was just after 12:30 a.m. He went to the front door and was putting his key into the lock when he heard a hissing sound. He turned back to the bike and watched with amazement as the air quickly left the blown out tire. The miracle was over, and the tire went flat.
I tell that simple story for this reason: My guess is that everyone with a deep faith can look back over his or her life and see some miracle there such as Tony experienced in his life. Can you? Many of you can, I know. It doesn't always happen, and it may happen only once in a lifetime. There are other times we will ask for a miracle and Heaven will be as quiet as a tomb. But God does love us more than anything else! That is why Jesus came to be our savior.
Loving God, forgive me of my moments of disbelief for I know you love me. Amen.