The stories keep comin'.....yesterday we were at a track meet at a friend's property out in the country. Little J, our 4 year old, was determined to run. I had told him he was supposed to be 5, but thankfully, they let him squeak into the age group (love informal events) and run. It was a 1/2 km race through the woods - what kid wouldn't love that? He lined up with all the others and when the whistle went, off he ran. Within 3 seconds, one of his shoes went flying off his foot, high into the air, over his head, almost in slow motion. He paused for a split second. You could tell he wondered what he should do...stop and get the shoe? No, that would slow me down. Kick off the other shoe? Nah, it's still on, why take it off? Keep going? Yup, keep going. That's what he did. He kept going, to the amusement of all the parents who were now laughing their heads off, and ran like Little John in the nursery rhyme, "one shoe off and one shoe on"! I wondered how the race would turn out. Sure enough, he was just as fast as the big 5-8 year old kids and made it across winning a 3rd place ribbon in his age group! "Who needs shoes to run?" is the moral of the story......
Another funny story...my husband thought he was pregnant. He had been feeling a low grade nausea for a few days. I had, too, but knew I was not pregnant! When he told me he thought he was pregnant, I started to play detective. What were the two of us eating or drinking that would make us feel that way? Then I started to pay attention to the coffee maker. It had been acting funny. When it is typically done, it beeps 3 times. I walk over, fill my cup and then start my day. But I had noticed that lately, after the beeping, the pot was only partly filled. I would fill my cup up anyway and then sure enough, the machine would start up again. Something wasn't right. When I made my cup the other day, I looked at the colour and realized I was getting a cup of coffee with at least 2x the caffeine levels, enough to make anyone's stomach feel bad! When I would go over to fill my cup, it was with the strongest level of coffee with the highest level of caffeine! Time for a new coffee maker, mystery solved. My husband isn't pregnant, just drinking coffee that is too strong!
We took a pause from Brother Andrew's book over the summer and read Proverbs instead. We're back to Brother Andrew now as we enjoy reading books together as a family with Daddy as the reader. He does all the voices and often adds a fake part in the story just to see if we're listening which is usually very humourous and has us all laughing. Now that it is dark earlier we enjoy the family time inside whereas in the summer we tried to stay out as long as the sun was up. Last night was such an encouraging chapter again.
We have lately been brain-storming almost on a daily basis more creative ways to make extra money. We are still trying to build an "ark". We're daily calling out for God to show us. We toss around ideas like building another house and have started to look at lots again. We consider our property and wonder what else we could grow that could be more profitable or other ways we could use our property to make money. This is a funny one - RM wants to sell Christmas trees this year. I shake my head. We go on and on with ideas. Sometimes there are so many ideas that we don't know where to start or we're limited by cash to finance the ideas! The chapter in our book last night was comforting as Brother Andrew was also stuck.
He and his wife were living in very close quarters with his sister and her husband. Everyone was starting to have families and they were clearly running out of space as each baby arrived. Brother Andrew wrote, "The problem was where to go." Housing was not available in Holland. The list for rentals was long and the names on the list hadn't budged in 3 years. As the situation got worse and the conditions got tighter, he wrote, "..we began for the first time to make a serious prayer campaign of our need. Every night for a week we laid our situation before God, trustingly and expectantly." (italics mine) Trustingly and expectantly. That was the phrase that struck us and got us excited again. He and his wife expected God to answer. They trusted God to answer.
"And on the morning of the eighth day, I had an idea." He suddenly remembered a house that might be made available to buy. How is getting an idea an answer? Doesn't that make it Brother Andrew solving the problem? Not at all. The next line could have been written by us. "Still, I was impressed with the way the idea had come to me: sudden and sovereign in a matter I had come to recognize." That happens to us all the time. Sudden and sovereign, in a manner we have come to recognize. We often get ideas in the middle of the night, when we are at rest and our minds are not so cluttered. He speaks to us. Even yesterday, RM was sharing how he was praying to the Lord, "God, if you want us to build a house, would you please make it clear by giving us a contract that will help us finance the project?" He said the idea suddenly came to him, just like with Brother Andrew, to call on the Lord, asking Him for that kind of clear direction. Brother Andrew said, "Suppose, again, it were God's idea?" I like that - God's idea. Not RM's idea or Brother Andrew's idea, but God putting the idea in our minds - where else can it come from?! We can't make ideas ourselves! We think we can, but we truly don't.
The story goes on. Brother Andrew didn't even have a penny to his name. He went and spoke to the owner of the house and said, "Have you considered selling your place?" The old guy's jaw dropped open and said, "However did you know? I made up my mind to sell just last night, but I hadn't told a soul about it yet!" He ended up selling it to Andrew for half of what he thought he was going to ask. Then, for the first time in his life, he borrowed money from his wealthy Christian brother in Christ, which he was able to pay back in three years in full. During the three years of the loan, "enough money came in above and beyond the needs of the work that we were able to repay the loan in that short period of time. Immediately, mysteriously, as soon as the house was paid for, the flow of excess funds stopped - and it remained dried up until there was need for it again." This is what we've found true for us as well. He said it best, "In the years of living this life of faith, I have NEVER KNOWN GOD'S CARE TO FAIL."
That is it. For two years we carried two homes. It was unbelievably expensive. For two years, RM made enough money to carry the two homes. As soon as the house sold, the excess money stopped. That tells me God recognized our need and it also tells me that He'll provide again when we need it. In our minds, we need it now, but we're letting Him determine when He sees fit. We have never known God's care to fail. He'll give us an idea. He'll make it clear. It'll be sudden and sovereign. So, not unlike Brother Andrew, we wait trustingly and expectantly.
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