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!