If you wear an “Orphan” shirt you get clean clothes. A story about God's attention to details.

If you wear an “Orphan” shirt you get clean clothes.

A story about God's attention to details.

Have you ever had "one of those days"? Well last Thursday was "one of those days" for me.

It was definitely not a normal day. It reminded me of a couple of my favorite children's books; If you give a mouse a cookie. or If you give a moose a muffin. The premise of these books is: once you do one thing then something else will happen causing another event and so on. A "snowball effect" if you will. Well that is how last Thursday went.

The following was written last Thursday night, August 21st, 2014 and summarizes that days events.

It all began the previous Friday (August 15th) when we were packing up our Orange Park home and traveling to High Springs to "close" on our new home. (We never got to "close" on our home until Wednesday, August 20- but that's a story for another day). We ended up leaving a bag of dirty clothes at our Orange Park house. A friend in OP took them to their home and she washed them for us.

Now jump forward to Wednesday, August 20. We closed on our High Springs home. Wednesday night we stayed in our new home.

Now on Thursday, August 21 at 7am Pastor Derek, Big Bob, Little Bob and Darren came to help us unload a trailer full of our gear into our garage. I cleaned up and hit the road to Jacksonville. I had been planning for months to attend a Jacksonville Baptist Association workshop on Preaching with the guest speaker H.B. Charles Jr. I was very excited to attend and to learn from an excellent preacher and communicator. On my way to Jacksonville I received a phone call from our friend and OP realtor Jenny Mosley. She informed me that a LARGE limb had fallen in the backyard of our OP home. When I say LARGE I mean over 20 feet long and a diameter of eighteen inches at the widest part. Based on the preliminary inspection, no damage to the home could be seen. The only damage she could see at this point was to our playground jungle gym, our metal picnic table and chairs and our zip-line were all now trash, flattened, totaled by the limb. 

I debated if I should skip the preaching seminar and go straight to my OP home and begin working. After speaking to Tricia we decided that the tree limb was a distraction by the enemy and it was best for me to go to the seminar. (I am soooo glad that I did!) I was truly blessed and inspired during the workshop. I was challenged and encouraged. Following the workshop I went to my OP house. I pulled up just as the tree guys arrived. After their initial assessment they began to remove the LARGE limb. As they began to remove the limb we discovered not one but four punctures into the roof with one penetrating all the way into the ceiling of our play room.

So by now you are probably wondering when I will get to the "clean clothes" part. "Hold your britches" I'm getting there! (Shelvin, that little joke was for you- miss you buddy). Anyway, as the tree guys began working I left the house to return a trailer that was loaned to me by a friend. On my way I passed "Papa" Jim Garner. I swung around and met up with him. He is a friend, mentor, prayer partner, advisor and all around great guy! Anyway I meet up with him and he gives me a box of clothes that "Granny" Alice Garner had washed for us. (See where I'm going with this?) Ok, so Papa Jim joins me in my adventures for the rest of the day. We ended up not being able to return the trailer at that time so we head back to the OP home again. As I walk out back to see how the work is progressing I overhear one of the workers say to Jenny, "My Uncle is a roofer and if you want we can do the job today for $. As I walk up this tree guy and Jenny turn and face me and we discuss the repair options and agree on a price. The tree/roofer guy tells me that my job is to go and get the supplies (this will save him time and me money). So, he provides me with samples of the roof material that I need to match and gives me a list of supplies needed. Papa Jim and I head to Lowe's with the trailer still on my car (luckily I was not able to return it earlier). Lowe's does not have what we need and neither does Home Depot. We were referred to a roofing supply place in Jax. So I call them up and discover that I have one hour before they close. Papa Jim and I look at each other and we both say, "It's gonna be close." It was a little after four by this point and they close at five. The store we need to travel to is Jax, over on Phillips Hwy, it is about five miles from where I was this very morning for the Preaching workshop. We take off. We get to the roofers supply place by 4:30ish- no I did not speed- get the supplies and get back to our OP house by 5:15ish. Not sure how we did all of that but we did. If you know anything about Jax traffic this was a miracle in itself this time of day. Thank you God! We hit almost every green light between Orange Park (Blanding & Kingsley) all the way to Jax on Philips and back over the bridge and to the house. It was truly a cool God thing. Every light we came to Papa Jim would say "You got another green, how are you doing that." We would just smile at each other and say, "Thank you God."

We drop off the roofing supplies at the OP home then we go and deliver the trailer to my friend. We spend a few minutes talking with him, have a cool God conversation then onto grab a bite in the drive through and get back to the house. We begin talking to the roofers and find out that the reason this guy had mentioned to Jenny about doing the roof was because he had read my shirt (One of my favorite shirts-all about caring for orphans in Christ name) and saw that I was a believer. He knew it looked liked rain and he did not want me to be stuck with water damage. Both he and his Uncle had worked very hard, physically demanding jobs all day and by now it was 7:50pm. We continued to have a great dialogue about Jesus and I got to share my "story" with them. They finish the roof and ask me what to do with the extra (left over supplies) I tell them to take them and use them to help someone else. They say that they know just the right person. They tell me about a person in their neighborhood with a trap on their roof. It's about 9:30pm and they leave. I head to Papa Jim's to take a shower and crash for the night with clean clothes.

You see God knew way back on that Friday that I would need clean clothes on this Thursday. He allowed us to forget them and for me to be able to have them when I needed them. God knew that I did not need a hole in my roof but He knew that someone else needed their roof fixed. It would have been very easy for me to get mad at God and others that day. I could have become very depressed and frustrated over the money and time and change of "my" plans from the events of that day. Here is the reality- God is always at work around us. Most of the time we miss it. We get so wrapped up in "our" plans that we may miss what He is doing. No way around it- this day was "YUK" in many ways BUT I choose to look for the good in the fog of the junk going on around me that day! God allowed me to share my story to several people that day. Who knows how many people were watching me and maybe saw a little of Jesus in me. God was at work in the details and I am blessed! Remember, take time to look for God all around you! Listen for opportunities to share your story!

So- here is a fun If you give a Mouse a Cookie style wrap up!

If you close on the house then you sleep at the new house.

If you sleep at the house then you have to unload the trailer into the garage.

When you unload the trailer you will need to travel to Jacksonville.

When you travel to Jax you get the call about the tree limb.

When you get a call about a tree limb you go to the preaching workshop.

When you go to the preaching workshop you go to the house and get there just in time to meet the roofing guys.

When you meet the Roofing guys one of them sees my orphan shirt.

When one of them see my Orphan shirt he thinks I am a believer.

As he is thinking I am a believer I try to return the trailer.

As I try to return the borrowed trailer I see Papa Jim and turn around.

As I turn around to see Papa Jim I get a call that i can't return the trailer at that time.

Because i can't return the trailer I go back to my house and overhear an offer to fix my roof.

As I over hear an offer to fix my roof I realize I still have the trailer.

Because I still have the trailer I go get roofing supplies (travel to Jax and back in record time)

After getting the roofing supplies I go to the house and drop off supplies.

After I drop off the supplies I deliver the trailer and have a God conversation.

After the God conversation I go back to the OP home and talk to the roofers.

While talking to the roofers I get to share my "story".

As I share my story we get to talk about Jesus and blessing others.

As we talk about blessing others I get my roof fixed before it rains for a great price!

Because I wore a shirt taking about Jesus I get to bless someone else with a roof.

Because I kept my focus in the middle of the storm I see Jesus.

Because sees the BIG picture I Have clean clothes to wear after a long, weird, not planned day!

Thank you God for one crazy day and for clean clothes to wear!

Always remember- God has the plan. We just have to choose to follow!

Now, let's see what tomorrow holds!

Blessings!

Skipper

Children's books referenced: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie  and If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff