An Ordinary Visit from God

Thomas worked hard, lived alone and was slightly fed-up with life.  He was used to his life and how he liked to live it; he had a few friends and some family members near by but he didn't notice things like beautiful sunsets or birds singing or children playing in the neighbourhood.   One day he received a letter from his local pastor, in which the pastor explained that he'd been praying for him.  Tom thought it was nice to have someone praying for him, especially the pastor, but what concerned Tom was that in the letter the pastor also said that God speaks to us and sometimes comes to pay us a visit.  "In fact", the letter went on to say, "God will visit you on Saturday Tom."  This was most unusual and slightly alarming for Tom.   The pastor wasn't normally given to flights of fancy and was, on the whole, fairly normal.  Tom knew this because he sometimes met the pastor at the local soccer game, and also met him at Christmas when he went to church, although he didn't know him really well.  The pastor was the kind of man who was funny and always made Tom feel relaxed when he was with him.  So Tom took the letter seriously.

"Saturday is tomorrow," Tom gasped.  He wasn't sure how God speaks or pays a visit to someone but he thought he ought to at least make an effort in case God showed up.  So the next day Tom got up early and rushed to Wal-Mart.  When he got there he wondered what to buy: "Hmmm, shall I get some loaves and fishes?" he thought.  Although Tom didn't go to church very often he seemed to remember that God ate loaves and fishes and did a cool multiplying thing with them too.  He wasn't sure which type of loaves to buy, there were so many to choose from so he ended up buying two packets of Jammy Dodger cookies, four large bags of Cinema Style Popcorn, (two toffee flavoured and two strawberry flavoured) two bars of fair-trade chocolate (Tom thought God would be impressed by the fair-trade gesture) and two six-packs of Coca Cola, one of the six-packs was Diet Coke, just in case God was health-conscious but fancied a drink.

Tom didn't know what time the divine visit would take place so he tried to be as quick as he could.  You can imagine his frustration when the young girl at the check-out in Wal-Mart started talking to him about the weather and how nice it would be to go on vacation somewhere to relax in the sun for a couple of weeks.  "It's just what someone needs who is feeling a bit low" she said.  He thought to himself, “ What's this young girl going on about?  God is coming to see me !”  She had just started to tell him about a local group who had arranged to go to a retreat for two weeks, when he interrupted her by saying, "I'm sorry, I haven't got time to stand around here all day talking to you."  He grabbed his bags and off he hurried.

                On the way home he walked as fast as he could, which wasn't easy: the tins of Coke weighed heavier than the popcorn and cookies which made him walk slightly bent over to one side.  “ Now I know how a banana feels”, he thought.  It was probably this bent-over walk that caused him to bump quite hard into an old man, causing the man to drop a stack of books he'd been carrying.  Thomas put his bags down and started to pick the books up; the older man didn't seem to be able to bend down very easily. Tom thought he heard him say, "I'm pretty old, ha ha , ancient in fact."  Tom took a quick look up and saw the man had a wry smile on his face.   Yeah , thought Tom, you do look old and what's more you should look where you are going and invest in a pair of glasses , Tom made a weak attempt to smile back.  There must have been twelve books that Tom gathered up off the floor, the old guy was saying something but his voice was quiet; Tom did notice that the books had Gideon's written on the front.  He bundled the books back into the arms of the man and apologised for bumping into him, although he was secretly thinking that it was the clumsy senior citizen's fault in the first place and it was now making him late.  As Tom rushed away he thought he heard the man say something like, "Would you like one?"  But Tom didn't even turn around to look at him; Tom had important things to do.

                Finally Tom reached home, he went inside and cleaned the place up as best as he could, which wasn't very good because he was a man.  When he'd finished cleaning he spread out one packet of Jammy Dodgers on a big plate and put them on the coffee table, along with six cans of coke and two packets of popcorn.  The rest of the food he put under the table, in reserve.  He sat in his armchair for a while then suddenly had a great idea, he rushed into the kitchen and pulled out a packet of 12 Wal-Mart Breaded Fish Sticks from the freezer, he ran back into the living room and put them on the coffee table, too, just in case God wanted to do a miracle with them.  Thanks to modern food processing techniques God would have the bread and the fish in one cool product.

                He sat down again and waited for God to visit.  He waited and waited.  He ate some of the Jammy Dodgers while he was waiting and thought it would be okay to put the TV on too.  He watched TV throughout the afternoon, by this time he'd eaten a bag and a half of popcorn, 10 Dodgers and drank two cans of coke.  Tom waited throughout the evening by which time he'd eaten and drank everything on the coffee table, except for the fish sticks, which were lying there in a soggy box with a little pool of water around them.  He had just finished eating some of the stuff under the coffee table when he thought he really ought to go to bed.  Tom thought nothing had happened, not a sausage (or a fish stick) except that is, for one phone call about six o'clock and that was his mate Bazza asking if he wanted to go on a course that night called Olfa or Elpha or something like that.  Thomas said, "No, thanks Baz, I'm waiting for someone".  Eventually Tom went to bed disappointed and feeling slightly sick and even more fed up with life than usual.  Tom doubted that the pastor knew what he was talking about.  In fact Thomas doubted a whole bunch of things.  He fell into a fitful sleep and dreamt that he was supposed to be somewhere but couldn't quite remember where.  So in his dream he stopped to ask a giant breaded fish stick if he knew where he was supposed to be.  The fish stick said, "Yes, you were supposed to meet with the lover of your soul, but you were in too much of a hurry and he's quite disappointed."  Tom woke up the next morning; he lay and stared at the ceiling for 20 minutes, he felt like Ebenezer Scrooge who had been visited by three ghosts.  He got out of bed and went to the window, the bright morning sun made him squint, but he could see a small boy peddling a tricycle, funny thought Tom I've never noticed this boy before .  Tom shouted to the boy, "What's your name?"

"Why, it's Thackeray of course" the boy shouted back.

"What an amazing name" said Tom truly amazed and muttering to himself, "What a delightful boy".

"Where do you live Thackeray?"

"Why, I live next door to you, of course."

“Huh”, thought Tom.  

Tom asked the boy what day it was, "Why, it's Sunday of course".

While this conversation took place the boy continued to peddle back and forth making tight skilful U-turns on his three-wheeled vehicle.

Tom thanked the boy and told him he'd talk to him again later but he had to go now because he had an appointment to keep.

Tom skipped breakfast, put on his coat and made his way to church.  When Tom got there the pastor who had written to Tom, said, "I thought I might see you here today.  So, did you meet God yesterday?"

"Well no or maybe, I'm not sure.  But what I am sure of is that I'm here to meet him now".

That weekend changed Tom's life, he was a new man and he wasn't doubting Thomas any longer.  His life took on new meaning, he made friends with people and children; he never knew what joy a simple chat with a child could give him.  He suddenly started noticing beautiful things he'd never noticed before, he was a calmer, loving and a gentler person than he'd ever been before.

One of the beautiful sights Tom noticed was a girl in the church that he now regularly attended. Tom got married; he left his job and started to work for a charity that helps get fresh water to people in developing countries.

Tom and the pastor became great friends.  One day as Tom and the pastor were walking to the soccer game together, they met Thackeray.  The boy asked Tom who his friend was, "Why, this is Pastor Jacob Marley, of course".

Paul is a singer/songwriter, author and speaker. He tours with his band, the Paul Poulton Project in the UK and the US, playing modern rock, blues and funk His next tour of the US is being planned for July/August 2009. He also writes articles for web sites and magazines. He has recently had a book published called 'Fishing For Praise'.
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