THE LAWN RANGER IS ASTONISHED

Seeing their faith, He said,

‘Friend, your sins are forgiven you’...

they were all struck with astonishment

 and began glorifying God...

Luke 5:17-26

My next-door neighbor is a recluse who never wants any help with anything. I have prayed for years as to how to share Jesus. I was working outside recently and noticed that he would come out and mow for ten minutes, then go back inside. He did this three times, trying to get his backyard done. This was unusual because the one thing that he took pride in was his yard. But lately he had been letting the grass grow very long. I offered to come over and help, and he explained that he could do it but had to work in spurts because he had an eye disease that made the sunlight painful. The city had threatened to fine him, and then mow and charge him for it. Here was the connection I had prayed for!

The next time that I mowed my yard, it occurred to me to mow his also. Since he never comes out, maybe I could do it anonymously. If he did catch me, that is when I could share Jesus. As I finished the last few strips of the front yard, I noticed that he had let the backyard get much longer since it didn’t show as plainly from the street. My mower is battery-powered and could never take on that tall grass. As I was asking the Lord what to do, a truck pulled up in front, towing a trailer with a riding mower. The young couple in the truck turned out to be Christians, and they thought that I shouldn’t be out there mowing my yard. So, they wanted to mow it for me! I explained the situation and in ten minutes the yard was finished without my neighbor even noticing! I was truly astonished to see the Lord’s hand—and His perfect timing—so clearly at work in this. The Lord had blessed a man who couldn’t work by using the faith of some friends who worked together. Now I’m going to keep mowing until I get caught, and hopefully his sins will be forgiven soon!                                                                      

Davy L. Troxel