James Samuel Tracey

There are times when God tells you to do something that makes perfect sense.

And then there are those other times.

Those are the times when you find yourself saying, “God, You do realize I don’t have the money for this, right?”

I had one of those experiences many years ago, and to this day, when I think about it, I still marvel at how God worked everything out.

But to understand the story of the van, I have to go back a little further.

When I Knew It Was Time to Move

I had been working at a nursing home during a very difficult season of my life.

When I accepted the job, I had been offered $10.50 an hour. But after I started working, my boss told me he wasn’t going to pay me what he had promised. Instead, I would receive somewhere around six dollars an hour.

I don’t remember today whether it was $6.00 or $6.50, and I don’t want to pretend that I do.

What I remember is what that season felt like.

For approximately a year, I went through hell.

It was during that period that I had what I have often called my rooftop experience—a time when everything seemed to come crashing down emotionally and I found myself crying out to God.

But eventually, something began stirring inside me.

It was time to look for another job.

I believed God was leading me.

One day I came across a large air-conditioning company I had noticed several times before. Something told me to stop.

So I stopped.

I walked inside and spoke with the first woman I encountered. I didn’t know it at the time, but she was the executive secretary.

She told me they weren’t hiring.

Now, that could have been the end of the story.

But she also told me to fill out an application anyway.

So I did.

And I left.

“There’s Something About You”

About two weeks later, I received a telephone call.

It was the general manager.

He reminded me that I had filled out an application with the company even though they weren’t hiring and asked whether I was still interested in working there.

Of course I was interested!

Then he told me something I have never forgotten.

The woman I had met—the executive secretary—had apparently told him that there was something about me that had struck the right chord with her. In fact, as he told the story, she had practically threatened him that he needed to hire me.

I still smile thinking about that.

I had walked into a company that wasn’t hiring, spoken to a woman I had never met before, filled out an application that seemingly had nowhere to go, and walked away.

But God knew what I didn’t know.

I got the job.

Within about a month, I was named Employee of the Month.

Within a few months, the owner and I discovered that we had attended the same technical school and had been taught air conditioning by the same instructor. Eventually, I was offered the position of technical director.

My income increased dramatically.

Think about that for a moment.

I had come out of a situation where my value had not been recognized and where I had been paid substantially less than I had originally been promised.

Then God led me to a company that told me:

“We’re not hiring.”

And that was the company where my life began moving in another direction.

But God wasn’t finished.

The Fleet Was Being Replaced

As part of my responsibilities, the general manager asked me to help some of the other technicians.

Rather than having everyone drive all the way back to the main office in the morning for supplies, I would meet technicians at different locations and give them what they needed before continuing into my own work area.

One morning, I noticed that the company was replacing practically its entire fleet of service vehicles.

The older vans weren’t necessarily bad vehicles. The company was simply upgrading.

I was driving on the Florida Turnpike heading toward my first stop when something hit me.

I knew that prompting.

Go ask them how much they would sell you one of those vans for.

My response was immediate.

God, where am I supposed to get money to buy a van?

I didn’t have money for a van.

As far as I was concerned, that should have settled the matter.

Apparently, God didn’t agree.

The prompting persisted.

And if I could put into words what I felt God saying to me, it was essentially:

Stop arguing and do what I told you to do.

So I went back to the general manager.

I was hesitant. I was nervous. I was still wrestling with God about the whole thing.

Finally, I asked him whether they were selling the vehicles.

He looked at me and said, “Come with me.”

“Which One Do You Like?”

We walked into the garage where several of the vans were parked.

He asked me:

“Which one do you like?”

I pointed to one.

He looked at it and basically said, “I know you like that one, but come back here.”

He showed me another van.

He explained that they had recently rebuilt the entire lower half of its engine and knew that mechanically it was in good condition. Worst-case scenario, he said, I might eventually have to replace the heads.

That sounded fine to me.

We talked about it briefly, and then I went back to work.

And then…

Nothing happened.

A couple of weeks went by.

Every so often I would feel that prompting again:

Aren’t you going to ask him about the van?

And my response was still:

God, I don’t have any money!

I was doing everything except what I felt God telling me to do.

Finally, one morning, the general manager took the matter out of my hands.

He told me:

“James, don’t leave before you see me.”

I thought, Lord, help me. I know what this is about, and I still don’t have any money.

The Title on the Wall

After completing my morning run, I went into his office.

While we were talking, I watched him reach toward a board on the wall where several vehicle titles were kept.

He took one down.

Then he started signing it.

I’m standing there thinking:

Lord have mercy.

I don’t have any money.

What am I going to do now?

Then he handed me the title.

I finally asked the question I had been dreading:

“How much do I owe you?”

He looked at me.

Then he asked:

“You told me you’re a Christian, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you said you’re a musician?”

“Yes.”

“So you have a band?”

“Yes, I do.”

Then he asked:

“Don’t you need a van to carry your people and your instruments?”

I said yes.

And then he said words I will never forget:

“Take the title, go get your van, and get out of my office.”

That was all I needed to hear.

I started moving.

I wasn’t going to stand around giving the man time to reconsider!

I remember thinking:

God, please don’t let him call me back.

And wouldn’t you know it?

“Oh, James! Hold on. One more thing.”

I thought, Oh my God. Here we go.

I turned around and went back.

He told me that because the van didn’t have a license plate, I couldn’t drive it away.

But a tow truck was already on its way.

He wanted me to drive ahead of the tow truck and show the driver where to take the van.

That was it.

I was free to go.

“The Boss Already Took Care of It”

I called a friend and asked whether I could keep the van at the home he was renting. The people he rented from were also friends of mine and fellow music ministers, and they had a band themselves.

They said there was no problem.

The tow truck arrived.

I got into my vehicle and led the driver to the house.

He unloaded my van.

Now, after everything that had just happened, you would think I had learned my lesson.

Apparently not.

With my presumptuous self, I asked the tow-truck driver:

“So, how much do I owe you?”

He looked at me and said something to the effect of:

“Oh, the boss already took care of all of that. You don’t owe anything. Have a good day, sir.”

And there I stood.

The van was mine.

The title was mine.

The towing bill had been paid.

And I had paid nothing for any of it.

All I could think was:

Lord, look at You.

God Came Through Again

I could hardly believe what had happened.

God had come through for me again.

Later, just as the general manager had suggested might happen, I bought two brand-new heads for the engine. I also did some body work on the van.

It served me.

It served its purpose.

But that still wasn’t the end of the story.

Years later, when I sold my first house, that van was still there.

The man who purchased the house blessed me tremendously. I was able to sell that house for twice what I had originally paid for it.

He was beginning a rental business.

And suddenly, I had an opportunity to do for somebody else what somebody had once done for me.

I gave him the van.

No charge.

The same van I had received as a gift became a gift I could give to somebody else.

The Blessing Was Never Supposed to Stop With Me

Looking back now, I realize that the story wasn’t simply about God giving me a free van.

It was about obedience.

It was about provision.

It was about stewardship.

And eventually, it became a lesson about generosity.

When God first prompted me to ask about that van, I kept explaining my limitations to Him.

I don’t have the money.

I can’t afford this.

How am I supposed to pay for it?

But God wasn’t asking me to explain what I had.

He was asking me to obey.

I couldn’t see the title that would eventually be signed.

I couldn’t see the tow truck that would already be paid for.

And I certainly couldn’t see years into the future, when I would eventually hand that same blessing to somebody else.

But God could.

That’s one of the lessons I’ve carried with me from that experience:

Sometimes God will tell you to move before He tells you how He is going to provide.

We look at what is in our hands.

God sees what is already in His plan.

I saw a company that wasn’t hiring.

God saw the telephone call that would come two weeks later.

I saw a van I couldn’t afford.

God saw a title that would be handed to me.

I saw a tow truck and wondered what it would cost.

God had already taken care of the bill.

And years later, I saw a van that had once been given to me.

God gave me an opportunity to give it to somebody else.

The blessing had come full circle.

That experience taught me something else too:

When God blesses you, don’t always assume the blessing ends with you.

Sometimes He puts something into your hands because you need it.

And sometimes He puts it there because He already knows that one day, somebody else will need what He first entrusted to you.

God didn’t just bless me with a van.

He eventually blessed me enough to give the blessing away.

And to think, the whole thing began with God telling me to ask about something I knew I couldn’t afford.

I’m glad I finally stopped arguing.

Sometimes obedience is simply taking the next step before you know how God is going to provide for the one after it.