A Steve Story
Part 3
 Steve's house.

January 2010
Steve was walking past our house daily now with his little dog on a leash.  He was also interacting with  our son Jet, giving him advice on bike riding and helping Jet build some dirt jump-ramps out in a field nearby.  Steve really had a kid's heart, even taking a few jumps of his own using Jet's bike and telling stories of his youthful adventures.  He was beginning to warm up to other members of our family.

Some days, Steve would not show up at all and we would later find out he was at a motel. On another occasion, he took a trip up to Grass Valley California, a 3 hour drive one-way. His brother gave him a lift, as Steve had some business to take care of there involving a traffic ticket.  He thought he would face jail time for non-appearance in traffic court, but they released him.

The problem was, he only had $5.00, no ride, and no cell phone! He was in a jam because his brother had dropped him off and returned to San Jose thinking Steve would be serving 30 days. Did Steve talk to God for help? Honestly, I cannot recall him saying so, but he did have some sort of spiritual experience and when he returned home to Los Banos, he had a tale to tell. 

We talked about God regularly and he confessed how at first, he thought I was dead wrong about spiritual things but now he realized there was truth to what I had said. I had spoken to him of Jesus and the resurrection back in October and he thought a man being raised from the dead was flat outrageous. I had never met anyone who didn't at least believe Jesus lived, died, and rose from the grave!  But he was slowly awakening to the truth and I kept telling him to learn more about Jesus, with the admonition "Steve, if Jesus is real, and you ask Him to show Himself to you, He will".

January was wet and cold and Steve was trying to tough his way through it. He was out of wood and the house was freezing. He even burned the teak dining room table leaves for heat, as well as a few boards from his fence, promising the neighbor he would replace them. 

A special day and a lesson on how to die to self.

   The lady who had given me the load of firewood called and told me I could come and get the rest of the BIG logs. (They were not long like the ones in the pic).  Knowing that Steve really needed the wood, I made an arrangement to go over to her home. The next morning the Lord began to prompt me to quit what I was doing and get the wood for Steve. Of course I thought of the things I "had" to do and what I wanted to do, AND it was COLD too!  But God kept "nudging" me, "go get the wood for Steve".

I tried to put the Lord off and have Him wait, but finally I gave in and said "OK Lord". Taking my leather gloves and putting our hand truck in the back, I drove over to get Steve. 
He wasn't home.

"OK Lord, not home, catch ya later," I thought. 
But the Lord said "YOU go get the wood FOR Steve".
"By myself???" I responded, and He said "by yourself".  Even my two sons were not home to help.

So I drove over to the house and a man was there, so I thought I would have help with those big logs.
  But the first thing the man said was "I hurt my back and can't help you". "Great," I thought. 
  Now I was parked in their driveway and the logs were at the very back of their property in the furthest corner from where I was parked!

But God said "do it" and I found myself loading two or three logs at a time, pushing them on the hand truck all the way to the front and loading them one by one into the back of my truck. Maybe four or five trips and that was it, they were all loaded. 
  Saying thank you, I drove back to Steve's house and he was now home. I could hear him on the phone. But when I rang the doorbell and knocked, he didn't hear me and did not come to the door!

The Lord spoke; "Unload the wood for Steve". 
Backing the truck into his driveway, I rolled the logs off one by one into his yard. Just as I was rolling the last log off the truck, the door opened and there was Steve!
I thought "what timing". But Steve was really happy to see that wood and said "oh WOW, thanks man". 
  Thinking my job was done, I was going to go home. It was about 1:30 now and I was thinking "lunchtime!"  But Steve was in a good mood and chatty, so to be polite, I listened to him. 
And as I was listening to Steve, I could ALSO hear the Lord!

"Take Steve out to eat" said the Lord.
I couldn't believe it....
  After Steve chatted for about 10 minutes, there was a pause and I said "Hey Steve, do you want to go get something to eat?" "YEAH, SURE man!" he said, "but I don't have any money". 
"That's Ok Steve, I'm buying". 

"Where we gonna go?" he asked, and I said, "Oh, I was thinking fast food, Taco Bell" (cheap, I thought.)
"Uhh, OK", and he grabbed his smokes and jacket and got in my truck.  You could not help but notice he had not shaved or showered in several days and I had the window down.

We drove over to where the Taco Bell place was located, at the end of a small set of stores, and the entry drive first passed by a Carl's Jr.
It was at that point the Lord spoke again "TAKE HIM TO CARL'S JR" and by now, I was getting better at just doing what I was hearing in my spirit.  When I pulled into Carl's Jr., Steve said with pleasant surprise "We're going here? Hey man, THIS IS MY FAVORITE PLACE!". Then he said "Ya know, I really don't like Taco Bell, but since you were taking me, I was going".

I looked over at him and said "God told me to bring you here".
I could not believe what was happening to me. It was step-by-step, and I had never experienced anything like this in 29 years of Christianity.  So we had a meal and more conversation and I took him back to his house.

About 3 pm, I walked in the house and saw my wife Linda and said to her, "You will never believe what I just went through" and told her how the Lord had taken over my day.

That night in my prayer time, which included prayer for Steve, I thought about the day. 
The Lord took me on a spiritual journey that afternoon as he worked through me to minister His grace and mercy to Steve. 

But at the same time, the Lord was giving me lessons on how to follow Him, how to hear His voice, and how to die to my own self-desires and serve someone else in humility. 

Yes, the Lord really ministered to Steve Stoner that day, but truth is...He ministered more to me.

 Next time, where is the love?
  A Steve Story, to be continued.