A Gallon of Milk

A young man had been to Wed. night Bible Study. The pastor had shared about listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice. The young man couldn’t help but wonder, "Does God still speak to people?" After service, he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message. Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways. 



It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, "God...If you still speak to people speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey."

As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud,
"God is that you?" He didn't get a reply and started on toward home. But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk. The young man thought about Samuel and how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli. 

"Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk."

It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home. 

As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, "Turn down that street." This is crazy he thought and drove on past the intersection.
 Again,
he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street. At the next
intersection,
he turned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out loud,
"Okay, God, I will."

He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He
pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi-commercial
area
of town. It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst of neighborhoods
either.
The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the
people were already in bed.

Again, he sensed something, "Go and give the
milk to the people in the house across the street."

The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the
people
were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the
door
and then sat back in the car seat. "Lord, this is insane. Those people
are
in bed and asleep, and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I
will look stupid."

Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk.

Finally, he opened
the
door. "Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give
them
the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be
obedient. I guess that will count for something, but if they don't
answer
right away, I am out of here. He walked across the street and rang the
bell.
He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, "Who is it?
What
do you want?" Then the door opened before the young man could get away.
The
man was standing there in his jeans and t-shirt. He looked like he just
got
out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too
happy
to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. "What is it?"

The young
man
thrust out the gallon of milk. "Here I brought this to you."

The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway, speaking loudly in
Spanish.
Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the
kitchen,
the man following her, holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had
tears streaming down his face. The man began speaking and half-crying,
"We
were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of
money.
We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God
to
show me how to get some milk." His wife in the kitchen yelled out, "I
asked
him to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?" 

The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he
had on
him and put in the man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car
and
the tears were streaming down his face. He knew that God still answers
 prayers.