The Right Man at the Right Time

A repairman’s business card appears just when a shivering homeowner needs it most.

A pressure gauge on an old furnace
Custom content block not found.

Brrr, it was cold. So cold it took an act of supreme will for me to crawl out of bed. I shivered as I made my way down to the basement, though why I was bothering to try and get the furnace going again I couldn’t tell you. I already knew it was hopeless.

My wife and I had finally bought our first home, a 1905 farmhouse just outside of Mansfield, Illinois. It needed work, for sure, but it beat the shoebox we’d been renting from a relative. We moved in the summer of 1970 and started fixing the place up with what little savings we had left.

Then fall came and the weather got brisk. One night I went down to the basement to fire up the furnace. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get it to work. I called every heating company in the book.

They said the same thing. “That type of furnace has been obsolete for years. You need a new system.” No way could we afford that. For weeks, my wife and I wore coats around the house and huddled by the oven, worrying about what to do. Our dream house had turned into a nightmare.

So I didn’t know why I was bothering to go down to the basement this morning. Maybe I just wanted to glare at the old furnace. “Lord, what are we going to do?” I cried out, sitting on a cinder block to think.

Just then, something slid off the joist above and fluttered to the ground. A dusty, yellowed card. I picked it up. There was the date of installation for the furnace…many decades ago. Below the date was “Mr. Doss.” The installer.

Mr. Doss. I puzzled over the name. In my small town, everyone knows everyone. I seemed to recall a Mr. Doss once worked at the appliance store. But that was long ago. Was he still around? I looked the name up in the phone book and found a listing. I dialed the number. “Hello?” a man answered.

“Is this Mr. Doss, the furnace installer?” I asked.

Mr. Doss told me he was more or less retired now. But he still lived nearby and he agreed to take a look.

He got our furnace running in minutes—and only charged a minimal fee. “It’s just good I had the parts lying around,” he said. “I’m probably the only person in the world who would.”

And good too that his business card was lying around just when I needed it.

Download your FREE ebook, Mysterious Ways: 9 Inspiring Stories that Show Evidence of God’s Love and God’s Grace

Share this story

Witnessing Heaven Series

True Stories of Transformation from Near-Death Experiences

Join the extraordinary Witnessing Heaven series and take an unforgettable journey through the stories of real people, just like you, who took a miraculous journey to heaven and back. Some of the books in the series are:

  • Book 1: Heavenly Encounters
  • Book 2: Messages from Heaven
  • Book 3: Transformed by Heaven
  • Book 4: A Love Beyond Words
  • Book 5: A Choir of Angels
  • Book 6: Scenes from Heaven
  • Book 7: A Joy Like No Other
  • Book 8: A Glorious Light
  • Book 9: In The Presence of Love
  • Book 10: Wonders of Heaven

You can join the series and save $2 per book, or you can purchase each book individually.

Read More and Order
A Moment for Mom Right Rail

Community Newsletter

Get More Inspiration Delivered to Your Inbox

Scroll to Top