A woman was getting a pie ready to put into the oven
when the phone rang. It was the school nurse, her son
had come down with a high fever and would she come
and take him home? The mother calculated how long
it would take to drive to school and back, and how long
the pie should bake, and concluded there was enough
time. Popping the pie in the oven, she left for school.
When she arrived, her son's fever was worse and the
nurse urged her to take him to the doctor.

Seeing her son like that -- his face flushed, his body
trembling and dripping with perspiration -- frayed her,
and she drove to the clinic as fast as she dared. She
was frayed a bit more waiting for the doctor to emerge
from the examining room, which he was doing now,
walking toward her with a slip of paper in his hand.

"Get him to bed," he told her, handing her the
prescription, "and start him on this right away."

By the time she got the boy home and in bed and
headed out again for the shopping mall, she was not
only frayed, but frazzled and frantic as well. She had
forgotten about the pie in the oven. At the mall she found
a pharmacy, got the prescription filled and rushed back
to the car . . . . . . Which was locked.

Yes, there were her keys, hanging in the ignition switch,
locked inside the car. She ran back into the mall, found
a phone and called home. When her son finally
answered, she blurted out, "I've locked the keys inside
the car!"

The boy was barely able to speak. In a hoarse voice he
whispered, "Geta wire coat hanger, Mom. You can
get in with that." The phone went dead.

She began searching the mall for a wire coat hanger --
which turned but not to be easy. Wooden hangers and
plastic hangers were there in abundance, but shops
didn't use wire hangers anymore. After combing
through a dozen stores, she found one that was behind
the times just enough to use wire hangers.

Hurrying out of the mall, she allowed herself a smile of
relief. As she was about to step off the curb, she halted.
She stared at the wire coat hanger. "I don't know what to
do with this!"

Then she remembered the pie in the oven. All the
frustrations of the past hour collapsed on her and
she began crying. Then she prayed, "Dear Lord, my
boy is sick and he needs this medicine and my pie is
in the oven and the keys are locked in the car and Lord,
I don't know what to do with this coat hanger. Dear Lord,
send somebody who does know what do with it and I
really need that person NOW, Lord. Amen."

She was wiping her eyes when a beat-up older car pulled
up to the curb and stopped in front of her. A young man,
twentyish-looking, in a T-shirt and ragged jeans, got out.
The first thing she noticed about him was the long, stringy
hair, and then the beard that hid everything south of his
nose. He was coming her way. When he drew near she
stepped in front of him and held out the wire coat hanger.

"Young man," she said, "do you know how to get into a
locked car with one of these?"

He gaped at her for a moment, then plucked the hanger
from her hand. "Where's the car?"

Telling the story, she said she had never seen anything
like it -- it was simply amazing how easily he got into her
car. A quick look at the door and window, a couple of
twists of the coat hanger and bam! Just like that, the door
was open!

When she saw the door open, she threw her arms around
him. "Oh," she said, "the Lord sent you! You're such a
good boy. You must be a Christian!"

He stepped back and said, "No ma'am, I'm not a Christian,
and I'm not a good boy. I just got out of prison yesterday."

She jumped at him and she hugged him again - fiercely.
"Praise the Lord!" she cried. "He sent me a professional!"