Instant God – Handyman Special

Lunch Bag Love Note

Oh, if you only knew. Knew who God is and what He wants to be to you! Yes, He’s the Creator of Heaven and Earth. He held the sun in place for Joshua (Joshua 10:11-13) and made an axe head glide through the water for the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 6:1-7). The lame walked, the blind saw and the dead lived again. These were some of the mighty miracles we’ve read in the Bible. But what about His interception in our lives today? Does He move among us like that today or are we always left to our own devices? What about the mundane tasks we encounter on a daily basis?  I’m here to tell you God gets involved in the smallest details of our lives if we allow Him.

Let me tell you about when a mundane task meets divine interception!

We serve a God who we can not only attribute the big victories in our lives but God pays attention to our most insignificant thoughts and desires. Like one who loves to please so does God desire to make His people’s lives a little bit easier at times.  It’s like God puts a love note in our lunch bag to let us know He loves us.

This is what He did…..

Project: Stained-Glass Window

I have several projects going on in my house and normally I have a handyman I use for the work. He’s been my handyman for a number of years. However, the jobs I chose to do this year require a certified contractor so the work would be guaranteed. I was converting my screened-in patio into a 4-season patio.  A couple of years ago I had this fantastic idea to install a faux stained-glass window in one section of the patio screens. I couldn’t afford the real thing so I bought some stained-glass film and my handyman applied it over a sheet of fiberglass. He then installed the stained-glass into the screen. It was gorgeous! I was glad I did it.

Stained-Glass Reinstall

Well, it’s two years later and now I want to convert the patio screen to double paned tempered glass so I can comfortably use the patio all year round. But of course, I want to save the stained-glass feature and have it re-installed on the new glass. The patio contractor was not willing to take on the re-install so I contacted my handyman.  I explained to my handyman I needed the stained-glass reinstalled after the patio project was complete and even threw in a few more small jobs to make it worth his while.

I heard crickets. Nada, Nothing. Zilch. He wasn’t biting.

Oh well. I resigned myself to finding a handyman. After all, I had several weeks to find one that would come out for a small job.

Why Am I About to Cry?

Two days later I find myself in the grocery store picking up a few things. Casually strolling through the aisles putting absolutely anything I wanted in my carriage. For no obvious reason  I started to feel weepy. It was like I wanted to cry. I began to talk to God and ask,

”Lord why am I feeling like this?”

“Everything in my world is right with me.”

“What’s going on?”

 I continued apologetically, “Lord I don’t know why I’m feeling like this.”

My happy go-lucky-mood had turned and I just wanted to go home.  So I picked up speed, now anxious to get out of the store.  

I approached a checkout where there was no one in line.  

“Good!” I thought, “then I can get out of here.”

A couple shoppers had gotten in line behind me. No worries, I was in front. I paid for my groceries and was making a bee-line to the exit.

Then I heard it.

In my head.

Out of the blue.

“Pay for her groceries.”

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Is it Real or Memorex?

I’ve been in this place before. Words or a thought dropping in my mind, completely unrelated to what I was thinking at the time. So unrelated, so foreign to where my mind was. My experience with these types of situations is if it is the Holy Spirit speaking to me and I deliberate the validity too long the window of opportunity will be gone. I have only a moment to respond. And I’ve had many instances where I did not respond correctly…the window closed, and I was grieved. Well, I wasn’t going to let that happen this time. I turned on my heels leaving my carriage at the exit and marched myself back to the lady who was behind me.

Cash or Charge?

“I’ll pay for your groceries.”

Hearing me speak, the lady turned and looked at me. It was if she was waiting for the punch line. She stood still, mouth slightly open, arm frozen in space with her money extended toward the cashier.

“I’ll pay for your groceries,” I repeated.

She finally finds her voice and says, “All I have is this broccoli. You don’t have to do that.”

“Oh, I thought you had more”, I replied a bit disappointed.

The lady still a bit flabbergasted couldn’t bring herself to say “Yes” so the cashier jumped in telling the woman,

“She’ll pay for it.”

“I’ve never had anyone do this for me before,” the lady said.

I replied, “God is good to me so I want to be good to others.”

Take Two!

As I paid the cashier for her broccoli, I eyed the man who was next in line. He looked both stunned and delighted at what he was witnessing. I looked at him and then at his groceries on the conveyor belt and then back at him.

I’ll pay for yours too.”

“Whaa…..I don’t believe in God I believe in science. I only believe in God where there is no explanation”, he said providing a disclaimer as to what was transpiring before his eyes.

“Well, God believes in science. I’ll pay for yours too.”

As the cashier was ringing him up the man continued chattering.

“I’m a handyman by trade. I do carpentry, electrical work, whatever. I work when I want to and take off when I want to. If you ever need something done look me up in Facebook, Dan the Handyman in Facebook.”

Totally surprised I replied, “Are you?”

“Yes. Look me up. I do good work! Dan the Handyman in Facebook.”

“I’m not going to remember that. I need to write it down,” I said knowing my forgetter works really well.

The faithful cashier excitedly pipes in and says, “Here, I have paper and pen.”

Dan, the handyman wrote his contact information down and gave it to me.

Handyman Special

As Dan and I walked out the store together talking we parted with exchanging our names, mine for the first time, his for the third.  Again, he encouraged me to contact him if I ever need anything done.

I continued to my car with the biggest smile on my face. No weepiness now. I needed a handyman and God found me one! Hmmmm, I had a question. Did God rush me out of the store with the weepy feeling so I would meet up with these people? I was in no hurry before then. Also, this wasn’t the store I normally visit. This was as divine set up. This was a lunch bag love note from God.

All I could say on the way home was “Lord, thank you… and please stay in my business.”

All I could feel on the way home was loved.

Pay it Forward

Love Theory