I want to share a true story. The setting is the Seibert house basement. The mood is a mix of stress pressure, creative thought, and mind racing on honey do’s still to do (i.e. cranky). However, the time has finally come in the “finish the basement project” to install the doors. My lovely wife spent many hours painting them and I believe our son’s pitched in on that as well. I position the first door in the doorway and I discover that the door and jam are wider than my opening….I kept cool thinking there must be some simple reason so I measure only to discover my opening is about one inch too narrow. I quickly measured the other two openings and yes, they too are too narrow. Now I am in Christ so as my mind is thinking all the worst words I could shout out I just walked away and called it a day.
After a twenty four hour cool down period and a new look on life I headed back down into the project. I still had one other door I could hang and so not all is lost. This is a five foot wide double door I slide to its opening and I discover that my opening is a mere twelve inches- too wide… Yes, I pulled the dumbest stunt in home construction; a quadruple error miss measure order wrong, coupled with a quadruple painting before measuring the new doors on the double check, followed by a full twist of –supreme anger and if I had a match the doors would have been in flames. Needless to say, the next cool down lasted several days. My pride was hit harder than my pocket book on this one I think. My wife and sons were so supportive by not saying a word even after they spent so much time painting them. I felt terrible.
After this cool down the only thing left to do was to get those doors listed on Craigslist as soon as possible, right?; maybe I can get some of my money back. Many days and a few weeks went by and no takers on the doors. By then I had already reordered doors, my wife painted them, and they were successfully installed.
Would you all agree that this was a hard lesson? You know during this ordeal I never thought… God is at work, he is in control and things will work out fine. I thought I had just made a dumb mistake and the lesson God was giving was that I needed to slow down. Oh no… not that easy, slowdown was only part of it. God is much bigger than that. My God makes big impressions and is so full of grace and love that He was about to show me something greater, a blessing. Even in my stubborn pride and selfish thoughts God was about to show me how blessed I really am and how I need to grow in my relationship with Him and with others. Take the visors off and see the bigger picture.
God put someone in our lives all of a sudden…..named Patty.
Patty entered our lives with one innocent email answering my Craigslist ad. We learned that she is working full time living on a limited budget and recently purchased two acres and a garage. The garage is in the process of becoming her new home but the kicker is that she is already living in it. She inquired about two doors and didn’t want to insult me but asked if I would take twenty five dollars apiece for them. She explained her situation and her sincerity, strong will and self-determined came through in her writing. I was impressed with her drive and the effort she was undertaking in making her home a reality. To be honest, I was so taken back and humbled by Patty that I immediately knew those doors were meant for her. God had a plan all along. You see, God doesn’t just do one thing and call it complete. You know God is at work when you are learning several lessons at one time and you don’t see what is coming. It is simply amazing. God’s blessing on me is allowing me to bless someone else. It is that simple.
How does it make you feel to give? It is so true that it is better to give than to receive. If you have never been on the giving side of making someone else so happy then you are truly missing out. We are created in God’s image. God is loving, grace giving, and complete. He wants to share how it feels to bless others and enables us to do so.
You know before you start thinking that you aren’t or cannot be a blessing to someone else, consider this statistic. I believe it to be true although I haven’t confirmed it in my own research. I am reading a great book titled Radical by David Platt, according to his knowledge he shares in his book, did you know that if you have running water, a roof over your head, and clothing “on your body” then you are part of the richest 15% of the world’s population. As Americans we are so blessed that we forget how much so compared to most of the human population. We really are a shining beacon of hope for the world. We can do so much we don’t even realize. My wife and I sponsor a child through Compassion International, and it really is a blessing to share and when you realize that just a little money can really take care of a child somewhere across the world, it is worth the cost of one meal out to do it for sure. We get letters that tell us how thankful he is that he can buy clothes, books for school, pencils, even a goat, and he shares with his family and friends. This is one way you can share and bless someone else with just $38 a month.
At this point in my life I know I can do more and that I should do more to reach others. My wife and I plan on delivering the fourth door, the sixty inch door, to Patty next weekend. Remember Patty had asked if she could buy two of the doors, as that was all she could afford right now. When we met Patty and the pleasure of talking with her, we discovered that she was going to need a couple other doors. She arrived at our home in a minivan and she had laid all the back seats down. She was so excited she could hardly contain herself, and had even arrived a few minutes early just before we made it home from work. Right after our greeting she began to tell us all about her project and how she was just working as she goes and completing little chunks of her home starting with the most needed like a bathroom. While she spoke her hands were moving about adding emphasis to her words. We could tell right away that she indeed is determined, strong willed, a hard worker, and a mother and grandmother all wrapped up in one person. Patty has her own home, she can plan its completion as she sees fit and from day to day she can decide what to do with her own hands and creative mind. We asked Patty if she would be interested in all the doors and she was so thankful. Somehow we were able to get three of the small doors in the back of her van and we asked her if it would be OK if we deliver the fourth double door to her.
You see, Patty was planning and willing to pay what she could for the two doors, but how could we- why would we ask her to pay more than she had already given us in a blessing. We made sure she had help back home getting her doors unloaded and before she left I asked her if she needed some wiring for her lighting projects, her smile confirmed. I had most of a roll of wire left over from my basement project that was going to someone with a purpose.
Patty is a new friend of ours. We hope and plan on building on our new friendship and hope to share Christ with Patty. We get to see her new home and the work she is doing, and we get to enjoy her excitement and love that she shows others. Patty has been a blessing and; God set the wheels in motion so that my wife and I can understand and know Him a little more and we can understand that a blessing is a key for the opportunity of sharing Christ with others.
It is a beautiful Sunday morning as I complete this small writing. I will include this writing and elaborate on it in the future “book”, if God allows. There is so much more to say about this story and especially how it will turn out. I do know that in keeping with Christ, our God will enable this story to turn out in a blessed way for sure.
Go make a blessing on someone else, and you will find in the end, you will feel more blessed by doing so. God is good.
God Bless….
"Cyber TALK!"
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