Labor of Love...

Yesterday and today, we had planned to get our belongings in Tennessee loaded into a rental truck so that we can drive back to Ohio on Wednesday.  If you could only have seen the house, you would know this was an absolutely daunting task -- especially considering the recent "challenges" (to be politically correct) that have brought both my wife and I toward depression...

We had also planned to have someone come in and give us some sort of estimate on what we could get for our home and what we needed to do to help out.  We had spoken with our pastor and his wife here in Knoxville some time ago, and they have some experience in "flipping" houses (sometimes their own and sometimes on the side).  So, I called Caroline on Monday afternoon, and asked about the possibility of having them take a look, and she said that she and Pastor would be glad to come over in the afternoon to take a look.

After walking the house with us, the news was not great, but not as bad as it could have been...

However, it was during that time that both Pastor and Caroline realized that we were simply not going to be able to get the job done.  We have been emotionally exhausted and are have been plodding along these last days and weeks.

So, they graciously offered to help us get the furniture loaded on the truck.  It was between 4 and 5 PM on Monday when they offered to help us.

While asking for help goes against my nature, I felt compelled to accept their generous offer.

And so, they worked with us for about 4 to 5 hours on Monday evening, and we were able to get half of the truck loaded!  They had some meetings to participate in today (Tuesday), but they said they could be here after 4PM again on Tuesday.

We got off to a late start this morning, but we did work hard to try to get as much as possible done before they arrived to help us.

We did alright, considering our physical and emotional exhaustion, but our motivation really came from two things -- the progress we had made on Monday and knowing that we would have help again Tuesday afternoon...

Pastor and Caroline have their own situation to deal with right now.  The church where they serve is a very small church, and is not able to provide for them as a full time job, and so, Pastor has had to work in addition to pastoring (as if that isn't really "work")...  Pastor was laid off from work a few months back, and now he is also unemployed.

We have had the privilege of being helped by true Servants of God!  This was truly a Labor of Love!

Make me a servant, Lord Jesus!  As I have seen others in difficult times minister to us and to others, may we not let our trials prevent us from serving you!

Unto Him That is Able...

Listening to BBN Radio this evening, and heard this verse read:

Ephesians 3:20 "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."


So, I decided to take a closer look at the context...  What struck me was verse 13:


"Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory."


Paul was in prison at this time!  In spite of his own circumstance appearing dire, he was encouraging the saints at Ephesus that, the same Savior who made possible -- and who made known -- the Gospel and all that it means, this same One is also able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think!


Ok, Lord!  We're ready!  While we diligently try to do what we must do, at the same time, we await Your solution to our current dilemma!  We humbly ask You to help us get our things moved from the house in Tennessee, and to provide a buyer willing to pay the amount we need.  And at the same time, we ask that You would provide a job that will meet our needs and will be close to our new home!  We ask these things, knowing that You are able to do exceeding abundantly above ALL of this!  And, to You be the Glory!

The Test of God's Faithfulness

Sunday morning in church, our pastor touched on the faithfulness of God.  He displayed the words of the great old Hymn -- Great Is Thy Faithfulness...  Indeed, God is faithful.

Pastor Burns went on to say how we love to proclaim His faithfulness in those times of when everything is going well!  Yes, for years, I heartily sang Great Is Thy Faithfulness, and could think through many things in my life where I saw He had provided.

The promise of His faithfulness is not one that is particularly important when "all is well", but rather, when, human speaking, all is NOT well!

It is during this time of our lives that we must look to His promised faithfulness for hope of deliverance -- that is the surety of deliverance!

We continue through such a time in our lives right now.  We see possibilities of jobs, and we know this is a difficult time in the job market, humanly speaking.  Sometimes, even most times, God uses those "human possibilities" to provide deliverance.  But in those times, it is possible for the world to see the outcome, and explain it away -- an explanation absent the Sovereign God.

What if God decides to make His deliverance completely and profoundly His own Divine Deliverance in such a way that no careful observer can simply dismiss His Mighty Hand?  In that case, He must eliminate all human possibilities, and provide by an unmistakably miraculous means!

For those not already familiar with this great man of God, please permit me to introduce George Mueller.  Mr Mueller was a man who trusted in God's faithfulness like few others.  He believed that God had called him to open orphanages, yet he did not have funds with which to build them.  Of course, God did not call him to do something without also providing the means.  Yes, George Mueller was able to build and maintain many orphanages, and God blessed him for his trust.  However, God did not see fit to provide the sort of abundance that we might have envisioned.  He provided enough, and on time.

There was one particular evening when they were sitting down to eat dinner -- at an empty table.  And, George bowed to thank God for His provision.  While he was still in prayer, there was a knock at the door.  The driver of a truck full of baked goods had a dilemma -- his truck had broken down, and he had all this bread that was going to go to waste.  God provided, and right on time.

Do I want to be George Mueller?  Waiting for God's provision to come at that very last possible moment?  Well, no, that is very scary.  However, if that is the way God is going to provide, then may He receive the glory!

This waiting on God is a test of our trust, but it is equally a test of God's faithfulness.  How many promises would be broken if He is not faithful?  Of course, if He is not faithful, then we have many more problems than mere broken promises...

Heavenly Father, Divine Provider, please don't require of me the faith that George Mueller demonstrated!  Yet, if that is what you require, please help me and my family to trust in your Great Faithfulness!  Thank you in advance for whatever it is You have already planned to do!

New Every Morning...

Truly, God's mercies are new every morning...

My wife just told me this morning that some of our friends are getting ready to butcher a cow, and they need the freezer space, so they need to use up some meat. So, she is going to make a crock pot of meat and potatoes and carrots for us tomorrow.

God continues to surprise us in ways that we could never have fully appreciated had I been employed.

Something that has been floating around in my brain the last few days is that none of us can thwart God's plan -- least of all, Texas Instruments (who chose to reduce my job in January). God does have a plan, and He is Sovereign, and nothing we do can prevent Him from carrying out His will. Maybe we can do it the "easy way" or the "hard way" (as Jonah chose), but God's plan will be accomplished!

Lord, help me to see your mercies every morning (from Lamentations 3:22-24) -- whether or not You choose to provide a stable, fixed-income career for me. May I never again become so "secure" in my salary that I fail to see your hand in the small things as well as the big ones!

From Car Accidents to Providence

At the core of my belief system is that God is Sovereign. Scripture allows us to see God's Sovereignty from different perspectives. The book of Job shows God "allowing" Satan to tempt and test Job, showing that God could have prevented Satan, thus He was Sovereign over those circumstances.

Other passages, such as the Exodus of Israel from Egypt, shows God directly causing various events to occur -- particularly, the plagues, not the least of which is the killing of the firstborn sons (unless the blood of the lamb was found on the door way).

The storms that the disciples experienced at different times, and the calming of the sea, show God's power over nature and thus another aspect of His Sovereignty.

This doctrine is a controversial one, but when the rubber meets the road, the doctrine of Sovereignty is almost solely responsible for how we respond to our life experiences.

The rubber met the road this past week -- quite literally. Well, first, it left the road, and then it gripped the road, and then it left the road completely... We were making our bi-weekly round trip from Ohio to Tennessee and back with two vehicles and a big load of boxes and other belongings early this past week. I was driving the truck and 16 foot trailer fully loaded through the mountains of north-eastern Tennessee, and my wife was driving the car behind us with two of our kids.

There were pretty bad storms that day in spots as we drove over the mountains.

I was riding along, listening to the radio, and my cell phone rang -- I expected it would be my wife, but I was stunned to hear her crying in a panic, "Scott, I wrecked! We hydroplaned and then the tires caught grip, and threw us around backwards, and across the road into the ditch!"

Wednesday was another day when my understanding of, and belief in, God's Sovereignty was to be tested...

This episode started about 1PM on Wednesday, and by the time we had contacted AAA, waited on a police report to be made, contacted our insurance company, and waited for the tow truck, it was already nearly 4:15... We were also trying to work with our insurance company to arrange a rental car -- which turned out to take another 3 hours! There were no rental cars available within an hour drive in any direction, and after several missed calls and voice messages, we finally made contact with the rental agency, and they had to drive the car an hour to where we were stuck.

A minor detail -- the truck was loaded, and we simply could not have fit our whole family into the truck.

So, here we are, sitting in the car in the parking lot of the wrecker service, making phone calls, and trying to figure out our next step... It had already been about 6 hours since we left home, and we were long past due for a restroom stop... So, across the street we traipsed to the gas station where we quickly decided on plan B after one glance into the outside restroom... We ended up deciding to go into the church next door and ask if we could use their restrooms. We could see people arriving and their sign indicated VBS was this week, so there were plenty of people around...

Of course, they had no problem with us using their facilities, and my wife and I did so (our kids had stayed at the gas station to get something to drink). As we were walking out the door of the church, a gentleman asked us if we would like to join them for dinner -- they were serving their VBS workers and their families...

Now, this man had no idea of the circumstances we were in -- this car accident is not all that is happening in our lives right now. I still am unemployed, we are in the middle of building a new home (caught in between the finishing and moving stages), have two mortgages, and now, we have a wrecked car... Stuck in a town basically on foot (can't be running a 16 foot trailer through the drive through, and not enough room for all of us anyway), and our three teenagers helped remove all doubt that dinner time had definitely arrived!

So, when this man offered for us to eat dinner, the tears fell without my ability to hold them back. Through this humbling experience, I clearly "heard" God "telling" me, "I will feed you and your family."

I can scarcely recount this situation without crying -- out of a combination of thankfulness and humility before the Sovereign God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills!

Why is this so humbling? God had provided a good job for me -- the world may not have considered us "rich", but we certainly had plenty, and we knew that God had provided it. My wife and I were both burdened to be people that give and that help those in need. We have not been accustomed to being those in need -- who walk into a church off the street asking for help. God truly put us in a position where we did just that, and He used His children -- that we had never before met -- to provide a meal for us! They offered to feed us without knowing anything about us! We were total strangers, and yet, they offered God's love in the form of providing much needed sustenance!

God is definitely Sovereign, and while hearing my wife panicked on the phone seems like the result of a mere "accident", I can see God's Sovereign hand shaping and changing us through this scenario.

We can see several blessings through this past week... I first must recount the repeated humbling of God's provision since Wednesday evening!

On Thursday, my brother came to help me installing doors, and his wife sent a crock pot of ham and beans for dinner -- we have a trailer parked outside the new house, but we don't yet have a working kitchen, so cooking has pretty much been limited to microwave meals and the grill... God (through my brother and sister-in-law) fed us on Thursday evening... Then, on Thursday evening, my wife has been going to a Bible Study with some of our new Ohio friends, and she came home and told me that her new friends had decided to make dinner for us for Friday evening -- steaks, potatoes, and vegetables... Then, we got to church this morning, not realizing there was a covered dish church dinner today, and of course, they invited us to stay for that. On our way out the door, several people handed us full or nearly full bowls for us to bring home.

Each time, I have been brought to tears seeing God provide in such a real way since we cannot afford to be eating out, and the kids are sick of hamburgers and microwave meals...

We have been blessed by Providence!

There are other blessings that I have neglected to mention -- my wife and our kids were not injured in the car accident! It was not an "impact accident" -- the car basically slid to a stop (sideways and backwards), but with no sharp impact. The airbags did not even deploy! No other cars were involved! Though the traffic was heavy on the interstate that day, somehow, this all happened without even clipping any other vehicle! While we did have to wait several hours for a rental car, we were able to make all the arrangements using the cell phone, and we were able to arrive here in Ohio safely nearly 2AM Thursday morning!

I refuse to believe that we have seen the end of the blessings from this apparent "accident"... God will provide -- we have but to wait and see how...

Is God Sovereign? Yes, I most definitely continue to believe that He is, and He has seen fit to both test and reinforce my belief during this past week.

Lord, help me to trust what You tell us in your Word -- that you will take care of Your children (Matthew 6:25-34). Thank you for both your Sovereignty and your Love -- which together mean you can and will work all things together for good (from verse 28 of Romans 8:15-32).

The Lord is My Shepherd!

Sunday morning in church, we had the privilege of hearing from a representative from Shepherd's Ministries, Michael, accompanied by a resident, Terry.

Michael asked Terry to come up front and give his personal testimony of God's saving grace. Terry quoted many verses and told how God saved him from his sins. Then, Terry wanted to say some things from his heart. He then quoted Psalm 23, and then sang that great old song, Gentle Shepherd.

There I sat -- no job, no confidence that God is going to allow me to keep all the "things" I have accumulated, not the least of which is the new home we are nearly finished building... And, I heard the first verse of Psalm 23: "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want". I know that "want" here means "lack"... Even though the rest of the Psalm is equally comforting, I scarcely heard anything beyond that first verse -- until Terry began singing Gentle Shepherd. Then, God started pulling the tears from my eyes and I was unable to hold back. The Lord is MY own Gentle Shepherd, and I shall not want or lack!

And, there stood Terry. Having a pretty significant disability -- certainly lacking the abilities that God has given me to think and to earn a living. Yet, Terry trusted the same Gentle Shepherd that I can trust today -- if I will.

Lord, please give me the Grace that I need today to trust You for my needs tomorrow... May my weakness give You the opportunity to show Your Power to those who are watching me to see if my faith is real! (II Corinthians 12:9)