I have stated elsewhere on this forum that I have detached myself from any kind of organized religion. It is not because the church “done me wrong” or that I got mad at God. It was simply the realization that the accumulation of knowledge and the rise of science have changed the parameters of our search for meaning. The bottom line is that I have become more of a true skeptic. I don’t believe in a “supernatural” person who is in charge of, or even aware of, every detail of our lives. Nor do I believe that any one religion is the single answer for all people.
As a skeptic, then, I am left with a bit of a dilemma. How do I deal with events that seem to defy rational explanation? I had put this subject on the back burner until I saw a Newsweek article on  E. A. Adeboye. Adeboye himself does not seem much different than many of the new breed of “Pentecostal” mega-mega-church leaders. What caught my eye was a story he related about running out of gas on a dangerous highway then driving an additional 200 miles on an empty tank of gas after God told him to keep driving.
Whether his story was real, exaggerated or fantasy, nobody can know. But it reminded me of a handful of incidents that I have experienced first-hand. And one of them was nearly identical to his. While driving to Laredo from San Antonio in 1981, I ran out of gas somewhere north of a small town called Encinal. There were no gas stations for another 10 or 15 miles. After several vain attempts to restart the engine, I bowed my head and prayed. I didn’t hear God speak to me. But when I tried to start the engine again, it sprang to life. I drove into Encinal where the engine died just as I was pulling into a gas station. I coasted to the pump.
At least that’s how I remember it. My memory may dramatize it a bit. But this did happen and it actually rattled me at the time. It’s one thing to say you believe, it’s quite another to get a personal demonstration. I was both in awe and a little unsettled that somebody big (God or an angel) actually was paying attention to me.
I don’t know for sure what really happened that day. The most likely explanation is that as the gas was running low, the fuel line experienced vapor lock. Waiting the few minutes it took to pray allowed the vapor lock to resolve itself and I was able to get the remaining mileage out of the rest of the tank. Even so, the coincidence of running out of gas for real just as I got to the gas station is still enough to get my attention.
While I do not think such events require supernatural intervention, they are fascinating to me and add to the mystery of the workings of both the human mind and the rules that drive the universe we occupy.
