THE POWER OF GOD

L/R B. Rodriguez, Joseph Cannon and Sir Edward.

By Joseph Cannon

           Without the power of God, I would not have passed the test for my barber’s license. I had to take a test this past July in Fairfield, CA. My test required two models, one for a haircut and one for a shave. My plan was for us to go to Fairfield the night before and stay in a motel close to the exam site. On the night before the test, I went to pick up my “models” at their homes. My first model for the shave portion was ready to go, the second model for the haircut phase of my test was nowhere to be found.
            My test was to began at 7:15 in the morning and as previously planned my haircut model was not there. I was discouraged and did not know what to do. At this point, I did not have a clue. I made several phone calls but could not find anyone to help. I had become very uncomfortable and doubtful and feared that I would not be able to take the examination.
 My friend, Sir Edward said, “You are not going to find anyone until you call on the Lord and ask him to find someone for you.” We began to pray and asked the Lord to give us someone who feared God. After driving around for a couple of hours asking random people if they would be willing to be a model for my barber’s examination, we could not find anyone. Sir Edward then turned to me and said, I feel your blessing about to come and I said I do too. Less than a minute later a homeless man at a liquor stored yelled, “Hey do you have some change?”
           We pulled over and asked him did he have hair on his head, he took off his hat and showed us a full head on hair. We presented the dilemma to him, which meant he would have to go to Fairfield, he agreed. I asked him if he had I.D., which was required of models for the State test, he replied yes and said he also had his Bible with him. At this point I knew I had my model. We departed for Fairfield and when we arrived at the hotel, I had to wash the new model Rodriguez B’s hair and he was drunk. I stopped worrying about my barber’s license for a while and began worrying about Mr. Rodriguez life. It was an experience to be with a homeless person one night and hear about his problems of having the basic necessities of life. It made me really think about how we take life for granted because that could have been me with no home, no food and etc…
            At 2:00a.m. we laid down to go to sleep but, we could not sleep because Mr. Rodriguez was talking all night so, we stayed up praying. At 6:40 a.m. we arrived at the test site and at 7:15 they called all test candidates. It was when I realized I forgot my towels in the trunk of my car. Everything that could go wrong went wrong I nicked the back of my model’s neck, the client's drape fell to the floor, I did not have a soil receptor, and Mr. Rodriguez was constantly talking all the while that I was cutting his hair. All of the goofs that I made could have resulted in me failing the examination but the Lord blessed me with my license despite me messing up.
             The whole experience was a blessing to Sir Edward, Rodriguez and me. It shows that God works in mysterious ways. He knew what was needed for my test and delivered it. He blessed me so I did not have to pay anything, my good friend; brother in Christ Sir Edward paid for everything. If the other model had come, I would have had to pay for it all including him going. The Lord is good because, he put us all together for this experience and used us all to bless one another. All of these wonderful blessings came from just stepping out on faith and turning everything over to God. Stepping out on faith is most important. I encourage you in life to step out on faith, no matter what you're going through the Lord can fix it.
              The Bible says, “ But without faith it is impossible to please God; for he that cometh to God must believe that he rewards those who diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6. By having faith in the Lord, He rewarded me with my barber’s license. It was through the power of God because, after all the mistakes I made, there was no way I could have gotten my license without turning it over to the Lord. Thank God…

 Joseph Cannon is a member of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church.