Jordan gives Erica a follow-up on his recent experience of having his car stolen. What we know: The Lord provides lessons in faith in all the things that we face, where we can cultivate and grow our trust in Him.
Click PLAY for the details!
Catch hope & encouragement with Erica on weekday mornings from 5:00 AM – 10:00 AM, and Sundays from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Erica:
If someone stole your car, how would you feel? You would feel so frustrated on so many levels and ask, why me?, right? SPIRIT 105.3. Hi, I’m Erica with my friend Jordan. He’s on the team here at the radio station, and we talked with him just a few weeks ago when this incident was fresh. Yeah, somebody stole his car and he was talking about how he was trusting God through it all. It’s not easy, and I believe that’s still happening. We’re going to hear in a minute, but Jordan, thank you for coming back and sharing part two of the story. What’s going on right now?
Jordan:
Yeah, so since last time we talked, I came in and I had shared just about looking forward to what God was going to do in that situation, immediately after we left. Wow. It’s so funny how this happens. Yeah, I was trusting in the Lord and then I had an opportunity to, well, I had to call the insurance company and let them know what was going on, fill them in on everything. And the insurance agent, the person that was settling the claim, she asked me a question. She said, Jordan, did you know if anything was wrong with the vehicle, and this is how easy it is to slip back into sinful patterns? I said, no, there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. I knew in my heart that yeah, there was something wrong with it. I had taken it into service shop because it was burning some oil. And so trying to figure out what was going on with that, they let me know that, hey, you’ve got a leaking head gasket. It’s not too big of a deal. You can ride the car, you can drive it until the wheels fall off, basically. But it’s about an $8,000 fix.
So, I spent $5,000 on the vehicle and when I saw that, I was just kind of like, okay, whatever. I’m just going to keep riding it until it falls apart. And so, when I got on that call with the insurance agent and she asked me, Jordan, was there anything wrong with the vehicle? And I said, no. I knew in my heart I just did something wrong. And so, I got off the call and I just really felt the Lord put his finger on something in my heart and saying, Jordan, you just told a ton of people that you trusted in me and that you had faith in me, so don’t you believe that I’m going to work this out for the better?
So, I said, okay, alright Lord, I’m so sorry. I repent of that. And I called them back. I got ahold of the insurance agent and let her know, hey, there was something wrong with the vehicle. It had a leaking head gasket. So, she asked me, well, was there anything you did to get it fixed? So I said, no, I put some stuff in the oil to kind of plug it up for a while, but that’s all I’ve done. So, after that she said, okay, alright, I’ll get that down. And I just didn’t really expect anything to come of that. I just kind of figured, okay, alright, Lord, I trust you. I do trust you. Help me to trust you more. Didn’t hear back from them for about two weeks. And then all of a sudden I get a call back saying, Hey, we got your settlement all figured out and we’re going to offer you more money than the vehicle was actually worth. Even on, according to Kelly Blue Book, more Money than I paid for the vehicle. And that was after I had come back and told them, Hey, there’s this huge fix that needed to take place.
And so it was an opportunity for God to really build my faith. And I know last time I had come in, I had shared that Philippians 4:6-7, and there’s actually a second part to that verse, and that’s Philippians 4:8-9. And that’s where Paul is saying whatever is honorable, whatever’s true, whatever’s right, whatever’s commendable, whatever’s lovely, whatever’s excellent, praiseworthy, dwell on these things, and whatever you see me put into practice and whatever you’ve received from me, put it into practice. And the God of peace, not just the peace of God, but the God of peace will be with you. And so, dwelling on those things, dwelling on what God says, dwelling on his promises and not getting up and leaving, that’s the key to keeping the peace. Just even after I left that studio and left his peace, left it, oh, feeling pretty good. And then all of a sudden, here’s an opportunity for me to step out of that. Well, God is saying, dwell on those things. Don’t get up and leave, remain in me. And so, that was really a building block for my faith, right there.
Erica:
There is something I struggle with as a believer who just loves Jesus is this, it’s like, how can we ever practice trusting God if we have nothing to trust him with? Right? It’s so easy when the sun is shining to just hum along. And I mean the sun is shining in your life. All the circumstances are well, but I love something you prayed. “Lord, I trust you. Help me to trust you.” It reminds me of the man in the Bible who said, I believe Jesus help my unbelief. And here’s the cool thing, and I know you’re going to agree with me, but he hears that prayer and he answers, doesn’t he?
Jordan:
Oh, totally. Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s just so good that guy doesn’t come with a pointing finger and say, look what you did. You screwed up. No, he offers us a gentle opportunity for correction. He put his finger on it and said, Jordan, hey, didn’t you just say that you trust me? Don’t you trust me? Oh, okay. Oh, I am so sorry. Lord, forgive me. Let me do that again. Just recently, I think it was like two days ago, I read something about just, it’s the parable of the sower and talking about the rocky soil. And that is me. And that’s something that the Lord has revealed to me is that when the times of affliction or difficulty or resistance come, yes, I’ll receive the word quickly and with a favor and say, yeah, that’s awesome. I receive it with joy. But then the sun comes up, the trials, the resistance comes and it falls away. And so what he wants to do is he really wants to work out that stony soil within my heart. There’s something about the fruit trees in Florida, and in the winter times it gets really stormy. It gets really just crazy hurricanes, all kinds of stuff blowing through. But that actually strengthens the trees because their roots go deeper, and then that means sweeter fruit. And that’s something that he’s doing in me.
Erica:
Well, you know what I’m learning is when the bad thing happens, right? We have a choice. So, just the other day, my mom called me and said, my mammogram came back abnormal and Thursday, this Thursday I’m going in to have an ultrasound. And so, you have a choice in that moment. You can freak out, oh my gosh, God, why? What is going on? What if this, and instead what he’s teaching me, and I am practicing, I love this word, practice. A child goes to soccer practice so they can play well in the game and learn the sport. I’m learning the sport of faith. So, it’s like, okay, God, I don’t like this. And yes, I’m asking myself, what if my mom has cancer? Help me Lord to go, even if the worst thing happens, you are going to be with mom, you’re going to be with me. You’re going to get us through. Matter of fact, he brought my mom through cancer once before. So, it’s that whole, we are practicing our faith together and he’s our coach. We have the best coach in the world, Jordan.
Jordan:
Yeah, that’s, I mean, it’s such a blessing to share with the body of believers. That’s what this is all about, is it’s edifying people, sharing with them. “Hey, I’m having this struggle. Can you lift my arms up in prayer?” Oh yes. Oh yeah, I can do that. And then when I’m feeling weak or somebody else is feeling weak, I can lift their arms up in prayer. Boom. It’s just vice versa. That’s the sharing of faith and edification. And that’s so good.
Erica:
It is so good. Even just having this conversation is so good. So your car now, do you have your car back? What’s going on? What are you driving?
Jordan:
Yeah. Well, my wife and I, we figure, okay, you know what, we can actually just, we’ll carpool. She just started a job and it’s luckily on the way to work here. So, just drop her off and come in and pick her up on the way home. And we make it work. And it’s good for us to just share that time in the morning and spend time in prayer on the way to work.
Erica:
Look at what he does more than we could ever ask or imagine. And I still have a feeling this story is not over. So, next chapter, come in and tell it. Okay?
Jordan:
Yeah. Alright.
Erica:
Thanks for hanging out.
Jordan:
Thanks Erica.
Comments