BETTER TOGETHER | How a Bad Day Became a Great Day
By Dr. Eddie Moody
On May 9, 2022, Salton Zagsaw was having a bad day. He was running late to work and hadn’t had his coffee. As he rounded a curve, his coffee turned over. He looked down and boom! He rammed into the rear end of a parked vintage 1974 Chevy truck — just the kind he and his friends all wanted.
Sal grew up in Fresno, California, and as a youth got into all kinds of trouble. But after moving to Selma, California, the previous year, Sal thought his life was getting on track. He had a family and a job, and he was making progress. This one event could turn the neighborhood against him, he thought, as he nervously watched the owner of the truck approach.
Stephen Hicks and his wife were sitting at their kitchen table when they heard a loud boom. Stephen’s hearing is not what it used to be, but he knew something was wrong. He headed out to check. He found a very worried big guy whose truck was greatly damaged, and who had still not even had his coffee yet.
“Are you okay?” Stephen asked.
Sal was shocked. In his experience, these encounters involved yelling, cursing, and even fighting. Instead, Stephen told Sal, “Don’t worry about it,” and tried to calm the young man down. He even told Sal to head to work, and they would sort it out with Sal’s insurance company later. Sal went to work and told people about Stephen’s reaction. They couldn’t believe it.
If Sal had run into Stephen’s truck in 1981, it probably would have been different. After his second wife left him with their two kids, Stephen’s life was in shambles. But Stephen’s neighbor — one with whom he previously smoked pot — found Christ. Stephen longed for the peace she had found.
Sometime later, Stephen found Christ at Grace Church in Selma. He has served at Grace ever since. God changed Stephen, and that was what Sal saw on that bad day.
Sal worried about the truck until his insurance company told him everything had been settled. Since he lived only four houses down, he started spending time with Stephen. Stephen helped Sal repair his own truck and started having spiritual conversations with him — the first in Sal’s lifetime.
“What do you think about Jesus?” Stephen asked.
If it had been anyone else, Sal would not have been interested. Before long, Sal found himself attending Grace Church, too. One day, after talking to Pastor Stan Roam in the foyer following church, the two of them went to the altar where Sal asked Christ into his life. A year later, Sal’s wife accepted Christ, and the couple and their family are growing in the Lord.
Stephen is Sal’s best friend and mentor. They talk about five hours each week. On February 25, Sal preached a sermon at Grace Church, and many people attended who had never been to church before. Sal works with the youth, and he and his wife are exploring how God would have them serve in the future.
When Sal first shared his story, I wondered, “What if Stephen had come out of the house angry?” I was convicted about how irritants in my life could be handled differently. What a reminder that God is always working. With God, what begins as a bad day can truly become a great day when we yield to Him.
