In September of 1996, after struggling for more than 10 years without a church bus, Macedonia purchased a used 15 passenger van, thanks largely to our senior citizens' department. This dedicated group was instrumental in organizing several fund-raising efforts such as investment projects and benefit dinners. With the help of the entire congregation they raised a modest $2,700, just enough for the purchase, vehicle registration and basic insurance. A member of the van committee, Ronnie Byrd (pictured), found the van being overhauled in a local garage and facilitated the purchase before the vehicle could be offered for sale to the public. Ronnie also became the principal driver of the van.
The first test of the van occurred on Unity Day. This is a convocation where a place is appointed and the sister churches of the Allegheny East Conference of Seventh-day Adventists meet for a day of worship, inspiration and fellowship. October 4, 1997, was the appointed day, and after the morning services at Macedonia, Brother Byrd, with a van full of passengers started on the 30 plus mile trip. The intended destination for this particular Unity Day was a rented school across the Delaware River in New Jersey. Since this was his first time on a highway with the van, Ronnie was particularly careful to keep his speed down to 55, even though most traffic whizzed right by them.
When they had gone about 20 miles something in the engine made a pop that was plainly heard in the front of the van. Nothing else changed, but a few minutes later while Ronnie was still thinking about it, there was another pop like the first one. This time the van lost power. Rolling to a stop at a country store, Ronnie went inside and explained the situation to the proprietor who was not particularly sympathetic, but agreed to let Ronnie park on the lot while repairs were attempted.
According to Ronnie, "Before I left the house it just seemed like God spoke to me and said to wear my jeans and a sweatshirt for the afternoon program. So I wore my jeans and a sweatshirt, but it was my best sweatshirt and I really didn't want to get it dirty working on the van. I started putting newspapers under the van so I could lie down. The man in the store locked his door and was just watching us through the window. We tried to go back in but the door was locked."
Perhaps I should mention a few pertinent facts at this point. Macedonia is a predominantly black congregation and Ronnie is well over six feet tall and weighs in at about 250 pounds. The entire van load must have been an intimidating sight for the shopkeeper in this rural part of New Jersey. At any rate, it was plain that he was not going to open the door for them again.
Crawling under the van, a cursory inspection confirmed to Ronnie that both fan belts had jumped off their pulleys and were now hanging uselessly behind the fan. It was at this point that another church member, John Munn, who had been following the van offered to begin shuttling Ronnie's passengers to their destination in groups of four or five. Meanwhile, Ronnie, who stayed behind with his young sons, prayed a short but desperate prayer saying, "Father, I just need to go home."
Presently a large tour bus pulled into the lot and a young white individual emerged carrying a suitcase. He placed the suitcase by the locked front door of the store and walked over to ask Ronnie what the problem was. Ronnie explained what happened and the young man went under the van to take a look for himself. Ronnie was fairly overwhelmed by this unselfish act and must have expressed some wonderment, but the stranger merely countered with a question of his own.
"Well, didn't you pray?"
Ronnie, still in a somewhat agitated state of mind, did not notice any particular irony in the man's question nor in the perfect timing of the man's arrival.
"Yes, of course I prayed," he answered somewhat defensively.
By and by, the young man crawled out from under the van and announced that he would have to call his father to bring some specific tools. Again, Ronnie commented about the young man's extreme helpfulness and again the man smiled good-naturedly and asked, "Well, didn't you pray?"
Once again, Ronnie affirmed that he had prayed, and again he failed to connect his prayer with the young man's arrival.
"To tell you the truth," Ronnie later admitted, "I was worried about what he might want. He was so nice I wondered if might not be, if he was gay or something."
It was ironic that Ronnie, who was such an intimidating sight to the shopkeeper, now found himself made ill at ease. The apprehensions, however, proved to be completely unfounded. Instead, the father drove up in a pickup truck with a small boy and an assortment of tools. Introductions were exchanged and Ronnie began telling the father how grateful he was for the help. The older man replied with the phrase that Ronnie should have recognized by then.
"Well, didn't you pray?"
The two individuals quickly went to work as a team, not even allowing
Ronnie to stand close, and dismissing Ronnie's repeated offers to add to their efforts in
any way that he could. 
After a while, the strangers determined that the pulleys were too misaligned for the belts to work properly, so they worked to somehow correct that problem, too. Whether they had to bend and pry things or install shims, no one can say, but finally the "mechanics" emerged and pronounced the problem fixed. Ronnie asked if there was not some way he could repay their kindness. For the fourth time, he heard the simple question that had now become an explanation, "Didn't you pray?"
They refused money, and only asked that Ronnie would remember to pray for them. Ronnie did not observe them leaving, nor did he notice anyone picking up the suitcase where it had sat for hours by the front door, but he was tired and perhaps missed those details. As for the church van, it has not had a breakdown since.
-Steve Nazigian with Ronnie Byrd