Suitcoats and Genes

Several months ago, I was sitting in a restaurant with a friend and I noticed that two older gentlemen were talking about me. I acknowledge their conversation and asked what they were talking about.

“He likes your suitcoat”; one of them replied, referring to a blue colored plaid suitcoat that I was wearing.

I asked him if he wanted it; taking it off and handing it to him.

He said, “Where did you get it from?”

I told him that my wife Cathy worked at a thrift store.

He said; “Oh, I can’t take it then; what would you wife say?”

I told him that Cathy would have a harder time if I DIDN’T give it to him knowing that he liked it.

I once again offered it to him and told him to take it. Once again, he declined so I put it back on, returned to my table, and went on with my meal and my conversation with my friend.

About ten minutes later, the man came over to me and made a comment about how much he really liked the coat.

I once again I took off my coat and offered it to him and told him to take it.

Once again, he declined. Instead he told me his name was Gene and gave me a business card. On the back of the card he had written his name, phone number, and address. He lived about a mile from my house.

We shook hands and he departed with his friend.

I put the coat back on, placing the card in one of the pockets, returned to my table, and went on with my meal and my conversation with my friend.

When I returned home after the meal, Cathy was having a small party with some of her sisters so I didn’t get a chance to talk with her until later about the suit.

She confirmed that I it would have been good to give away the suitcoat. My intention was to deliver the suit to his house in the next week or so.

Needless to say, because I didn’t do it right away, I forgot about the card until some time a few months later when I found the card in the pocket.

 

I placed the card in my Day-Timer so that I would put it on my short-list of things to do.

Unfortunately, life became full and I once again forgot about the card; that is until recently.

I made it a priority of things to do this week and set about to take care of it.

Well, today was the day to deliver the suitcoat to Gene so I grabbed it and drove to his house.

On the way over, I heard form the Lord that Gene had died. I decided to drive over any way. Once I arrived, I noticed that the yard had the appearance of someone moving out.

When I opened up the screen door to knock on the door, I saw a realtor’s lockbox on the doorknob and I realized that I had heard correctly. I knocked several times any way.

“He’s not here; he died”; I heard someone say. I looked around and saw a neighbor trying to get my attention.

I walked across the street and spoke with the neighbor who told me that Gene had died one month ago; a few days before his eightieth birthday.  He said that a realtor had started cleaning out the house to put it on the market to sell.

I thanked him and drove back home realizing that I had missed an opportunity to give. I cried for Gene.

 

And then I thought of another Gene; my father-in-law (who died in 2007).

“My” Gene was a ‘prompt-to-give’ individual who loved to give lavishly; usually insisting on the beneficiary receiving the gift.

Gene knew that his part was to give. What the beneficiary did with the item or money was really up to them. He simply needed to do what he was told to do.

 “So, let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Once again, realizing that I had missed an opportunity to give, I cried for Gene.

Today, as opportunities for you to be generous present themselves, DON’T WAIT! Tomorrow may never come and you will be stuck holding the very things that the Lord wanted you to give away.

This includes many things such as time, money, possessions, resources.

It also includes simple gifts of cooking a meal, or giving extra produce, or giving someone a ride.

It also includes making time for ‘interruptions’ such as phone calls, drop-ins, and prayer requests; both urgent and recurring.

 

It also includes asking for and offering forgiveness…taking time to make amends…

It also includes sharing your faith with others.

DON’T ASSUME that you have one more day; you may not…

“And He (Jesus) said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:15-22)

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

How We Got the House At 840

I thought that since our house is now paid off, I should write about how we got the house.

On the night before Thanksgiving 1984, my dad had a dream. Mentally, I was in a rough spot. He told me on Thanksgiving Day at church about the dream; he said that he believed that it was from the Lord. He heard the Lord say that we were going to get a house for $59,000.

We were a family of five; two adults, a boy, and two girls. We were renting a little two-story house that had two bedrooms; one just off the dining room on the first floor and one upstairs. It served our needs and only had a few things wrong with it such as mice, short ceilings in the basement, and its address was “666”.

The house was owned by a friend of a friend of ours. His brother had purchased the house because it was very close in location to his house. His mother was dying in another state and his brother had purchased the house so that when his mother died, his father would be closer to his brother.

We were renting the house under the agreement that when the mother died, we would have two months to vacate the property. This agreement worked well and we lived at this house for several years.

In June of 1985, we received notice that the homeowner’s mother had died and we were given notice that we need to vacate the house by the August 31, 1985. We spent the next two months looking for a house to purchase with no success; sometimes looking at five houses each day.

Then we came to the point where we had only two weeks left before we had to leave.

Although we had been looking to purchase a house, we had nowhere to go. And, to make matters worse, because I wasn’t employed (other than odd jobs) we had no credit rating and no money in the bank. We were not the candidate that realtors want for prospective buyers.

I was in a bad spot. I said to my father-in-law; “God has finally let us down. In two weeks we will have nowhere to go. No job, no money, no house and no prospects!”

My father-in-law lovingly responded that he knew that God would come through. He said; “One thing I know is that your and Cathy’s life has always shown the provision of the Lord; He has always been faithful to you. In two weeks, you will have a great testimony of how God came through”.

My response was cynical and I said something to the effect of; “Why don’t you go through this and then I will read the book that you write as to how He came through!” My father-in-law said; “You need to go through this; it is something that you need to walk through and in two weeks you will have a great testimony of how He came through”.

Meanwhile when I was with my father-in-law, Cathy was with one of her sisters looking at houses. Cathy found a home that she liked on Ohio Street. The flyer said that it was a “Charming, two-story four-bedroom house with an Upper 3rd Floor located in a convenient area close to shopping areas, bus service, parks and schools. Because of the large corner lot, its South exposure fills the home with passive solar during the winter months and keeps it bright and cheery!” It was listed for the asking price of $59,900 as a “Contract for Deed…Like renting”

Later that Night Cathy, my parents, and I went through the house and it was agreed that we should try to get the house. The realtor (who was also the homeowner) told us several things about the house not listed in the flyer.

The house actually had a “contract for deed on a contract for deed” In other words the realtor was still making payments to someone else for the house. Also, another person had already signed a “Purchase Agreement”. My mom suggested that none of this mattered (if Cathy really wanted the house) and said she would call people and ask them to pray.

This began a week filled with one road block after another. Each time one road was cleared (like the original person requesting to back out of the purchase agreement) another road block would come up.

And each time my mom would call friends and ask them to pray. And each time one road was cleared another road block would come up. And each time my mom would call friends and ask them to pray. This took us to Sunday night, one week after we first looked at the house.

One week Later…On August 18, 1985, Cathy, my parents, and I met at the reality office (again who is also the owner of the house) to sign a “Purchase Agreement and give a check for two thousand dollars earnest money given towards the purchase of the house.

She said to me; “You two are the worst possible scenarios for selling a house. Why am I doing this sale?” I sheepishly muttered to her “Because they prayed”, referring to my mom and Cathy.

When asked what I mumbled, I spoke up and said that my mom and Cathy had prayed that this sale would go through. The realtor smiled, shook my hand again expressing what a risk it was and proceeded to congratulate Cathy.

As I stood in the office I noticed that this realtor had been “Realtor of the Month” for ten of the past twelve months!

When she gave a hug to my mom, my mom noticed that the realtor was tearing up. When asked what was going on, she explained; “Two weeks ago I was talking about this house with my husband. He said that we would have no problem selling in the next two weeks before going on a trip overseas. I told him how long it took to close on the sale of a house. He told me that the sale would happen; after all they were going to have an audience with the Pope. I told him that if the sale went through in the next two weeks, it would have to be God.

When you told me that you prayer, I wondered if God had indeed heard your prayers and that is why we were doing this”

After a brief discussion, the sellers agreed to rent the house to us for the month of September, 1985 for the amount of $375 so that we could move in immediately; and, so that they could head to Europe to see the Pope.

The official signing was scheduled for October, 1985 when they returned from Europe. Keys were given to us; one week after we first set foot in the house and one week before we needed to get out of the house we were currently renting. We had beaten the “two-week deadline” as God came through with one week to spare!

My understanding is that we would owe a payment of sixty five hundred when we signed the official paperwork in October. I tried doing everything that I could to get the money and nothing worked. I had been doing construction on people’s homes; no one seemed to have money to pay me. I even tried selling antiques and was offered well below market value.

October 4, 1985, we signed for the house. My parents came with in case we needed to borrow money for the down payment; which we did. There was also a bill for $65 dollars which covered some filing fees and back taxes. We were able to write a check because we had that amount of money in the bank. The entire closing took only fifteen minutes! The monthly house payment was around $540.

I came home from the signing and was not filled with hope but rather fear as I wondered how we would pay for the house. I asked Cathy; “Yes, God had gotten us into the house, but how would we pay for it?” She left me alone in my thoughts and headed to the store still rejoicing for how God had provided for us. The mail came and along with it was a local newspaper (the kind normally left to die in the front bushes). I opened it and saw the name of a company.

This was an ad stating what the company offers as a service and products. The ad was not saying that they were looking to hire, but something about the company stood out to me so I picked up the phone.

I need to digress and state that this was a bit out of the ordinary for me and it followed a year of application and interviews with no success and only left me more discouraged.

The owner of the company answered the phone and I asked him if they were hiring. He said to me; “Can you start tomorrow?” and asked me what I would like to make as an hourly wage; to which I gave him a number. He said that he would pay slightly less, but after two days he paid me more than I originally asked. I worked for this company for about eight years.

August 21, 1995. Ten years after we purchased the house we were to make a balloon payment of approximately eight thousand dollars. Once again I looked to myself to come up with the funds necessary to cover the debt that was owed.

Once again my efforts were met with no success at all. After months of trying, we didn’t have the money for the balloon payment. Once again I wandered and couldn’t see how we were going to come up with the money.

We asked the people who met in our home Bible study to pray for us and the situation; asking for favor from God for the money.

On the night before the papers were to be signed and the check would be due, I got a phone call from the realtor who owned the house; the one to whom we would be writing the check to buy out her portion of the contract for deed. The realtor had a strange request. She said to me; “I know that tomorrow you are coming with a check for eight thousand dollars; and I want you to know that contractually we have to take the money. I am asking if we might talk”.  I didn’t tell her that we didn’t have the money.

One phone call extended the balloon payment to September 1, 2000. After that we transferred to a mortgage company; to which we made monthly payments until we were paid up.

All of the years that we have been in the house, we NEVER missed a house payment; and we were ALWAYS able to replace furnishings including furniture, appliances, remodel rooms, replace the roof, soffits, and facia. 

Praise be the Name of the Lord for His faithfulness!

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matthew 6:33-34 NKJV)

I Spilled Coffee on My Shirt!

My mom instilled in me at an early age a sense for fashion. And, except for when I don’t, I always like to keep up my appearance. 

She believed that clothes should be kept clean (which was no small task for her since she had ten children). So each day my mom would wash and dry the laundry so that once again clothing would always be kept clean and ready for the next event.

Mom instructed me that clothes do make the man and therefore each fall she would take me shopping to pick out the newest style of clothing.

My mom was so in tune with fashion that I had bell bottoms the same season that they first came out in the seventies, along with paisley shirts, vests, bandannas, and tie-dyed t-shirts. She let us boys dress like hippies and the girls wear dresses made from paper.

When this new thing called “disco” came along, she took me to the store to purchase leisure suits with white and brown platform shoes. 

Fortunately, I quickly learned that "stayin alive" meant that I should not have anything to do with the whole disco scene, and I got as far away from it as I could possibly get!

Today, I may not always be in style (sometimes one must wait several years for an older style to come full circle), but I do have a sense of what looks good together

My dress shirts are sent to the local dry cleaner to be professionally cleaned; heavy on the starch. After wearing them for an event, I promptly send them back to the cleaners for a fresh start.

My suits are neatly hanging in a closet awaiting to be paired up with a pair of dress pants and a matching tie. My dress shoes are polished and shined to military precision.

I pay attention (and will even ask) if my socks match my pants.

Even when I am casual in my attire I care about whether what I am wearing matches; including when I am just running up to the store or cutting the grass.

Another thing that mom taught me was that it was important to not spill food on your clothing and to always keep it clean. When we were little, she made bibs to cover my clothing as I worked on getting food and beverages into my mouth without spilling.

I’ve worked with quite a few co-workers who could have used this training from my mom. In fact, it seems to me that each time they put on a new shirt, they insist on spilling food on it!

In fashion and food my mom taught me well.

So, you can imagine the horror when I spilled coffee on my shirt!

No, this wasn’t a special shirt, but the idea of staying clean in my appearance was put to the test as I tried to figure a way to conceal the major faux pas in the fashion world. I thanked God that Miranda Priestly wasn’t around!

Quickly I went to the nearest source of water to dilute the stain before it set in, knowing that it would still need to be pre-treated with laundry soap (to attempt) to remove it.

I realize that what I call a sense of fashion has the undertones of OCD; in that clothing really serves a basic need for modesty and warmth. Beyond that is mere vanity and preference.

And the delusion that I can always keep my clothes clean (or anything for that matter) is OCD in full bloom!

As the great comedian Phyllis Diller once said; “Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing”

As delusional it is to think that I can keep my clothes always clean, it is even more delusional to think (and believe) that I can keep my life totally clean at all times.

Like a fresh shirt, my life can be an open target of the misdirected things that fly towards me (or out of my mouth) and land in places that puts my illusion of righteousness to the test as I tried to figure a way to conceal the major faux pas to others in my world.

My feeble attempts to stay clean or to even clean up and conceal my mess will always (in my efforts) fail miserably. Simply put, it won’t work.

Like spilled coffee on my shirt, I need to go quickly to the only source that can “dilute the stain” before it sets in, knowing that it will still need to be washed with something greater to remove it.

In Isaiah 1:18 the Lord calls out to all of us who have “spilled coffee on our shirts” (sin) that we can’t seem to remove;

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

The Lord wants to remove ALL of the stain so that there are NO reminders that anything was “spilled”.

“And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:13-14)

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)

We may not be able to start each day with new, or at least clean clothes, but we can awaken with the hope that as we turn to God each day, we will find His mercy fresh and new waiting for us to use. Great is His faithfulness; in that we can place our hope!

Are you ready to get your life cleaned up? Have you tried to clean up your life with no success? Are you tired of trying to do it your way? Call 1-888-NEED –HIM; someone is waiting to talk with you.

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A Five Dollar Armani Suit Coat

It was 1996, and I needed to get a large suit to use as a prop for a message that I was going to preach in a couple of days. My intention was to wear shoulder pads and pillows to look like I had bulked up. The title of my message was; “Keeping Your Spirit In Shape” from 2 Timothy2:1-22; which deals with growing strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Cathy and I went to the local Goodwill store to look for an extra large suit coat. While looking for the suit, Cathy said that she found one that I should try on. I tried on the suit coat that she gave me and it fit perfectly. Cathy told me that we should take this suit coat because it fit me so well and the price was only nine dollars. But, I told her; “I’m looking for an extra large suit coat. This suit coat fits me and so I won’t be able to wear it over shoulder pads and pillows”. So I went looking for a larger suit coat; which I did find and made my way to the cashier.

Just before we got to the cashier, Cathy showed me why she thought that we should get the first suit coat as well as the extra large one. Inside of the suit coat was a tag that informed me that it was a brand new Giorgio Armani double breasted men's suit jacket and it still had the original price tag from Macy’s attached to the sleeve.

When the cashier rang up our items, she stopped at the Armani and said; “This suit is priced wrong; there is no way that this suit should be nine dollars.” Cathy and I realized that they had discovered their error and would now charge us at least a couple of hundred for the suit. The cashier went on the tell us; “For nine dollars you are supposed to get a pair of pants with it. There is no way that I can charge you nine. I will let you have it for five dollars.”

We promptly paid the cashier and went home delighted at how the Lord provided us a brand new suit coat for one tenth the cost.