Beneath the trees near the edge of a clearing on my grandparents’ farm lays a car on its top. For all of my life this car held a profound mystery to me. Who did it belong to? Why was it left here? Was it in an automobile accident? How long had it been there? Why was it abandoned? Did it belong to someone young or old? Single, married with kids, or an elderly person? Was it rolled because it no longer served a purpose? Was it intentionally rolled or flipped because a storm picked it up? Was it a beloved car that braved storms and brought a family to events? Did it take a husband and pregnant wife to a hospital? Did it once carry a newlywed couple? Did it belong to a wealthy person? Did it belong to one of the million of other automobile owners, just another unknown car owner? Was it the owner’s first car? Was the owner mad for the lack of a quality car and left it to rot and decay? For much of my life there was a bit of fear also that surrounded this car because I felt it was involved in an auto accident near an ancient roadway and the remains of the deceased still clung for life in that car never to be found…only to be found later too late for anyone to help. So much unknown history of the unknown occupant who owned this car. A mystery of the unknown.
While at a weeklong contract job at a hospital in San Antonio, I observed two patient rooms with men awaiting serious surgery. Their name printed on the cardstock affixed outside their door: Unknown. And to be completely honest, I was saddened to the point of tears for these men. Unknown…to anyone. No family, no friends, no employer…no one knew their name. They awaited a surgery and would recover, and outside of doctors and nurses, completely alone. Were these two men travelers? Wealthy? Poor? An immigrant (one of them was from China)? A veteran? Homeless? A teacher? Who were these men? And why it saddened me, besides them being unloved outside of the care of the hospital, is could these men had accomplished a lot or is it feared that they may never had done anything for anyone of significance or value. A mystery of the unknown.
The Bible has a number of unknown people. We are never provided their names. But God made sure these men and women would be recorded for all time for us to read about millennia later. One particular person (although I could choose from a number of names) is found in 1 Kings 13:1-3. A prophet who was only termed as a “man of God” declared a prophecy that would take about 300 years later to come to pass. Who was this man? What did he did that made him a man of God? If he was so special or significant, why are we not presented a name? A mystery of the unknown.
Our lives touch, impact, and spin in, through, and around many people. Every one of us touches and perhaps even changes a life. Although there are a list of people, I cannot help but to think of the man and woman who came to my aid right after my automobile accident back in November of 2015. These two people who went beyond their lives of going home after a day of work came to my rescue.
And perhaps we can all recount unknown people who touched and impacted our lives. And perhaps to someone else, we are that unknown person…that person who brought a word of encouragement, a prayer in a time of need, a smile or a hand of comfort, or a church offering in a plate that later was used to touch a life in that city or someone else around the globe. We may feel insignificant. And perhaps in the twilight years of our lives, we may feel like we are that overturned car rested up against a tree…rusting away, feeling useless or out of place.
But that is the mystery of the unknown. Like that prophet, like that car, like those two people, our lives can impact and change events of many others even many years later…just by God using our lives and to Him be the glory. The mystery of the unknown.