I once owed God $5.
In the winter of 1999, I was driving home from work in a snowstorm in the early hours of the morning. It was a rural road, with hundreds of yards between houses and about a dozen miles between the office and my apartment. I was somewhere in between, driving an Oldsmobile I'd bought used earlier that week. I discovered that night that the car's gas guage was one of its many broken features.
I don't think I was at death's door, exactly, but I had no cell phone and a freezing walk ahead of me, as spending the night in the car -- an inviting option at first -- seemed less and less reasonable as the cabin's temperature dropped.
It seemed unlikely that another driver would pass soon, but after about 15 minutes, a guy rolled up and stopped next to me. I told him I thought I was out of gas, and he advised me to wait there -- as if I had a better plan. After roughly 15 more minutes, he returned with a gas can and emptied it into my tank. The car fired right up, and precious heat started pouring from the dashboard vents once more.
When I tried to pay him with the sole $5 bill in my wallet, he waved his hand and said, "Put it in the offering plate."
I hadn't been a church-going man in many years, and I haven't spent a lot of time at church since, but I made sure to settle that debt.
My point is that God's influence on mankind is evident. Whether for good or harm, God's presence as a motivating force is substantial and undeniable. That may not be incontrovertible proof of God's physical existence, but it shows that the notion of God alone is powerful enough to reshape nations, ignite global conflicts or even rescue me from a fool's fate in a snowstorm.