Jennifer's prayer and Jim's story--Day 46

We had an internal quality audit at work today and I was prepared and we did well except for a few minor things. That's always a good thing. Later, I got out of work a couple of hours early. That's always a good thing too. I went to pick up some McDonald's for Kim, Mary, Jen and the kids and then headed to the rummage sale. There wasn't much heavy lifting to do there or anything, but I was able to help out by putting together a swing I had found and then grabbing the pizza that had been ordered. It was good to see all the young people there helping out. Kim found a rug she wanted and hopefully will be able to get it today. Dennis and Jennifer were firmly in charge, although Jennifer looked exhausted. Dennis had looked exhausted at the birthday party the night before. It looked like one had been able to get some sleep and the other hadn't. You're never too tired to pray though, and the prayer Jennifer prayed before we left was heartwarming and both Kim and I would touch on it as we prayed with the kids before bed.

I planned on going out and playing some poker with a couple friends, and was able to get some playtime in with Noah before I left. That was fun. Colton had some questions about making video games when he got older and I told him you had to be able to draw or program really well. I asked him to draw me something and give it to me when I got home. I wanted him to pick something out around the house to draw and try to draw it, but never said so. Surprisingly, he did anyway. He drew the our lamp, the table it's under and the surrounding area. He made an attempt to draw each three dimensionally and did a good job. He was happy to hear me tell him so and even more so when I told him he has the skills to be a video game artist if that's what he wanted. It would take a lot of work, but I hope Gabrielle, Colton and eventually Noah take us seriously when we tell them things like this. They each have so many hidden talents, are very smart and could do whatever they wanted.

I did surprisingly well at the poker tournament and ended up getting 8th out of around 70 people. That was good for $50 bucks or twice the buy-in. I didn't have to pay the buy-in cause one of my buddies owes me some money. I asked Kim to buy the rug she wanted at the rummage sale, get a toy for Gabrielle and Noah and then give the rest of the money to the church or youth group. I find it unusual that I wrestle with myself every time I am moved to do something nice like that. On one hand, I feel like, as I said, my heart is moved to do something kind. On the other hand, I feel like it will be perceived as me trying to draw attention to myself. I don't necessarily feel that I am, but I still wonder.

Fortunately, I see that others are like that a bit. Our plant superintendant got in front of his congregation on Sunday, and later wanted to make sure he wasn't given any more attention than necessary. Instead of walking around the sanctuary after mass, he stayed in his pew and prayed. He had told me an interesting story a while back and on Sunday that story came back up at his church.

He had said that at his Catholic church, there was someone at the church 24 hours a day doing one thing or another. Praying, reading, thinking or anything they wanted for an hour. Then another comes in. He had been praying to God about a time he could go, but he never felt like he had the time. One Friday evening at around 6:00, he went there to read and do some other research. He noticed that the 6:00 person had not showed up. The later it got, the more he realized they were probably not going to make it and so after he finished reading and praying, he left at 7:00 and signed his name in the book they use to keep track of the people that came at their respective times.

That Sunday was the day he donated plasma. He does it every other week and it takes a couple hours to do it. This time, for no reason he could think of besides what would happen later, the machine quit working after an hour. They unhooked him and he left. He usually attends the later morning mass at his church, but since he was done early, he went to the 8:30 mass. He enjoyed the mass and when it was over he went to talk to who I believe was the older sister of his daughter's boyfriend. They didn't know each other too well, but had seen each other a couple times and they talked for a bit. She was there as her husband watched the kids, and he would come to mass when she got home and was able to take over the babysitting duties. She hadn't been able to place his name, so before they parted, she asked. "Jim.", he said. "Jim Tingay?", she said as her eyes lit up. "Yes.", he said. She proceeded to tell him that it was her 6:00 time slot he had filled, and she was going to be unable to continue to make that time slot and asked if he could replace her. He told me in so many words, "How do you say "I can't." to an answer of a prayer from God?". You can't, so of course he said yes. Jim's eyes were red and close to tears as he told me this. I knew that the serendipity of it all had affected him deeply and I was very glad he had told me.

Later, this Sunday, he said the pastor asked what God's grace was and asked if anyone had something to share about God's grace. He was moved by the Holy Spirit to not only speak up, but to get up and walk to the microphone to tell his story. He began by telling everyone how nervous he was to be up there in front of them, but as he went on, he felt more comfortable. As I said, when he was done and had sat back down, he remained where he was and prayed. Later people came up to him to and told them how it had touched them. He said it was an answer to another prayer. A prayer that God would use him in whatever way He saw fit. He gave all the glory to God, and hopes that God continues to use him in the future.

Later this night, we prayed as we do before the kids go to bed. We all gather around one bed or another, and either Gabrielle or Colton starts us off. Of the many things Colton thanked God for was his "WONDERFUL family." That brought a small, heartwarming smile to my face. Gabrielle used "AWESOME family." That was great as well. Her prayer tonight was unusually long and I found it wonderful and awesome that she was moved to do so much prayer. Kim prayed for much of the same and her new job and brought Jennifer's prayer up and recanted much of the same things Jen had mentioned. When it was my turn, I was about to do the same, but for some reason stopped. There was a long pause as I waited for something to come, and eventually I prayed for our family first. Then I was moved to say how we looked forward to seeing how God's plan was going to be put into place tomorrow at the rummage sale. We look forward to seeing so many people doing so much good and spreading God's word.

Amen.