We headed back home from Mansfield today. Mom all tucked in with Chris in the Explorer. Fritz and Heidi vying for the best window seat in the truck with me. Back to the drudgery of mold and Clorox and shoveling and relief meals. We couldn’t wait.
I had the cell phone this trip, and it never stopped ringing. A church wanted to bring a team of volunteers but needed a place to stay that had showers. Nathan checked in to see how we were doing. And while I was talking on more than one occasion I heard that persistent beep that means someone is calling in. I still haven’t learned how to do the put-you-on-hold thing. And I’m not sure I want to know. When I’m talking to someone it feels like the beep is being rude and butting in. Anyway, one of those callers left a message that their church wanted to adopt us, and they wanted to talk about what that would look like. Sounded interesting. But I was having enough trouble just answering the phone and driving, so there was no way I could listen, drive, and write down the phone number. Not safe. I decided to call him back later.
One call I got a little later on was from my secretary at church. Cindy was frantic! “It rained in Jamaica Beach last night and the roof at church leaks and one of the students at the school looked up and said, ‘Hey, look at the ceiling,’ and part of the ceiling collapsed and there’s water in the ceiling all over the church and I called FEMA and they don’t do blue roofs on churches and Laura is going to call the insurance and she has to keep calling and calling because they’ll never call her back …”
Are you tired yet? Anyone who knows and loves Cindy like I do, knows that once she gets going, she’s going to say what she has to say. Well, needless to say (!), I was stunned. I asked a few questions, but honestly was not much help.m I think I told her something along the lines of, “It’s not supposed to rain any more for a few days.” Really helpful, right? We hung up and I pondered the situation for a few dozen exits. Then it hit me. That church. The one that wants to adopt us. It’s not far from Galveston. Maybe they have some contacts who can help us out. I knew I still didn’t have the phone number. That was locked away, saved in the limbo of my phone’s message center. But I knew the church’s name, and the contact person. And Cindy is quite resourceful. I gave her a call. Well, Cindy took the bull by the horns and got the job done. Someone would be out to help us by Saturday at the latest.
And that left me – somewhere north of Huntsville – with plenty of miles to think. And Oh, did I “think.” OK, God, what about our miracle? You protected the building through a hurricane – through a flood. And now a simple rain shower and we get a major leak. Where are you at work in all this?
Have you ever asked God something like that? At the time you feel very righteously indignant. You know just what God should have done or should do. All he had to do was follow your plan of action. In my case I had plenty of ways we could do ministry using the building as a staging point. South Oaks was putting in a shower. We could host relief teams. We could offer a washer and dryer. We could … OK. Back to what HE could. Anyway, it hit me rather suddenly that God was at work here. In fact he had been at work before I even knew what was going on (Now that happens to me a lot). God provided the answer to our prayer for help regarding the roof before we even took the time to pray it. He met our need before we asked. Now that’s an amazing God. Matthew 6:8 says, “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
Father, thank you for knowing us so well. Help us to trust you – to rest in what you know rather than in what we think. Amen.
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